Once There Was a Maiden
by WyldCard4
Summary: Alex writes "don't feel bad" on her arm. It didn't help much. So she writes another set of words. "Do something helpful." So Alex starts her mission to bring back Mason and Juliet. Fueled by the ink on her arm she can't stop until she saves the two.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**

I claim no profit from this work of fiction. If requested by a copyright holder I am perfectly willing to take this story down off of the Internet. This is written purely for entertainment purposes and no infringement is intended on Wizards of Waverly Place or Disney. I recommend viewing the series through legal means. Netflix is an excellent way to view the entire series on the Internet legally.

**Author's Note:**

I would like to thank my beta reader, who goes by the screen name Not Just a Nerd. Her advice has been excellent. The work you are reading relies on her wonderful assistance. I highly recommend her fanfiction.

Please review. I have been critical enough of the hard work of others over the years. I can hardly complain about others if you have high standards. I would appreciate any feedback, positive or negative.

Chapter One – Alex

I sat alone in my room. My eyes stared blankly into space. I rubbed my arm where Harper had washed away the ink.

Being positive? I needed that. I just, well, it had been nice not worrying about it for a little while. I kept going over what happened in my head.

_Idiot! You idiot! You were the one who threw Justin's wand away trying to get the stupid necklace down! It's all your fault!_

Justin hadn't said anything. But I knew he hated me now. If it hadn't been for my stupidity Juliet and Mason might still be fine. I would be with my werewolf boyfriend, double dating with my brother's vampire girlfriend. Not that I would want him on the date, he was my brother.

I looked at the magic marker. The thing rested on the floor. I wanted to use it, to feel free of it again. I knew Justin was using it. There was absolutely no way he was as happy as he was acting without magical help. I had seen him with it when Juliet was missing.

I summoned the marker and looked at my arm. _What's the use? It will just wash off later anyway._

I knew I couldn't go back to the stupid Positive Alex that had been cheerleading back at school. So I wrote "don't feel bad" on my arm. I didn't feel bad, just, well, empty. I looked at the thing. "Darn you marker. You are no help."

I considered what was wrong. _Maybe I need to be doing something instead of just sitting around. _Not a usual opinion from me, but I was ready to try anything.

I wrote the words "do something helpful" on my arm. And I sat back in bed, feeling much better.

Then I had an idea. I could use magic on Juliet and Mason!

I got up and raced out of my room and down into the Lair. I was alone, except for Max, and he wouldn't pose any problem. Naturally, he was attempting to eat a potted plant.

We looked at each other.

"Max, what are you doing?" I _really_ didn't want to know the answer to that, but I couldn't easily scheme with Max in the way. I needed him distracted. Well, more distracted than usual.

"I heard a woman at the grocery store saying that tomatoes were best fresh. So I thought, why not eat them as fresh as possible." He smiled as he said it.

_Fresh as possible? _"You know, Harper was mentioning the same thing to me last night. Maybe you should go talk to her about it?"

"About what?" Max put on his thinking face. This was usually a troubling sign.

"Oh, just go talk to Harper!" I said exasperatedly. He nodded. "Fine, fine, I'm going." And he left the room.

I sighed with relief and started searching the Lair for the right book. After a few moments I was sitting on the couch reading the details of the spells that might be helpful. For some reason I didn't find myself hating it this time. But there was no time for that. I was doing something helpful.

I thought of the body switching spell, would that one work? I was worried about it being recalled a while ago but I couldn't find the wizard memos relating to it.

_Simple enough, you just switch their bodies with someone else. Maybe Gigi, she deserves to be a hag. Who should I find for Mason? I'll think of someone._

"Too bad they won't be happy with it. Or will she?" I said to myself. I smiled and wondered what mind control spell to use. The spell TJ used on his parents would probably work, but Justin might see through it. Justin would almost certainly have deep moral objections to the idea for me to ignore.

"Why don't I have, oh…" I looked down at my arm. "Right, the magic."

This would make things more difficult. In my excitement I had forgotten about the fact that no one would accept my solution. I would have to be sneaky, very sneaky, to do this right. Good thing I was an evil genius.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two - Justin

It was nearly my shift, and I waited for Mom to be done as I worked on some homework. Right before my shift started, Alex came in and sat down next to me.

"Hey, I need a favor. Would you happen to remember where the wizard memos are kept?" She asked me. I looked at her.

"Since when have you been interested in that?" I asked her.

"Since it benefited a scheme you really don't want to know about. Anyway, I couldn't find them in the Lair." She flicked back her hair and looked at me. "Please."

"Alex. Do you really think I save every wizard memo that we are sent?" I asked her. I put my hand on my backpack, ready to take it behind the counter when my shift started.

"Justin, where do you keep them?" I sighed and put my backpack on the table, opening it and I carefully removed the memo folder.

"What memo do you want?" I asked her, flipping through the index in alphabetical order.

"The one on the body switching spell." She grinned as she saw it. She grabbed it out of my folder. "Thanks."

"Alex. Remember what happened last time you used that spell?" I thought back, remembering Harper running loose in her body, flirting with me…

"I helped you break up with your stalker girlfriend. It wasn't a bad rap." She said cheerfully. "I'll be out for a while. See you." And she was off.

_I have a really bad feeling about this._

This was when Max and Harper came in. "You see I call it a very fresh pizza when I mix it with milk." He was saying.

"Please get him away from me." Harper begged me. Max smiled up at me, and I wondered just what had been happening.

"Max, I need you on my side right now. Are you up for it?" I asked him.

"What's in it for me?" He asked.

"I want you to follow Alex. I think she's up to something. Well, she is up to something, she said she was up to something and she just took information with her about a spell that almost certainly means she is up to something."

"I see. What if she is getting a pepperoni plant? I was thinking about getting one for my very fresh pizza. They are going to be a hit." Max had a smile on his face.

"Max, you really owe me. Don't you remember?"

"Remember what?" Max was staring out the window at a hotdog stand.

"That you unleashed the Mummy that kidnapped my girlfriend into New York." I looked at him.

"What Mummy?"

"The Mummy that we searched for everywhere and _you defeated_." I said it slowly. This was Max. He would need time to process this.

He stared at me blankly.

"Just follow her, please."

"Okay, but remember you owe me for this." Max nodded and left the Sub Station. I hoped I could trust him.

_There is absolutely no way I can trust Max with this assignment._

I got up and started my shift. Harper was staring at me. "Thank you! You got Max away from me!" She said happily.

I smiled a bit at her and started my shift. I had the feeling this would be a long day.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three - Alex

This felt so much better than just being positive. I hadn't stopped moving for three hours and I didn't feel anything like stopping. My plan was working perfectly.

"Body switching spell, check. Ingredients for kugel, check. Cupcake for Max to eat, check. Lists are awesome." I giggled before moving onto the next stage. I needed to decide who I didn't like enough to make a hag and a wolf forever.

My first impulse was Gigi, but she wasn't that evil. I also didn't think it was a good idea to body switch with a wizard, so everyone I knew who was actually evil was out. I didn't want to hurt anyone so that left no one.

"Stupid brilliant plan." I considered what to do next. I looked at the wall. I had decided to come down here. I looked up at the wall where I had painted my initial. Also, it was the sign of anarchy that always lifted my spirits. I always found it peaceful down here. This was the place to sit down and plot the next phase in my scheme.

_Go to prison and find someone really nasty? But how would I get them out of prison without attracting attention? Switch off with our love interests? Gross, he's my brother, and I don't want to be a hag._

I felt weird now. Wheels kept turning in my head, wheels that weren't satisfied with words such as impossible.

_I have to find someone to switch them with._ I knew it was true. It really didn't matter who, did it?

I started reading the memo. I couldn't just sit around and stew about it. Literally, the magical marker was really awesome. After the first sentence I remembered why I usually let Justin read all the wizard memos.

The Anti-Shinmaic substructure of the spell _"_Cambia Coporum, Meum Corpora, Sua Nominav" is currently under serious revision. The Demiurgic association with the Dreamer Janus is…

And that's when I shuddered and put the memo back. This reminded me why I absolutely hate reading, especially when it related to wizard lessons. Still, I couldn't stop myself for diving in further, not by the power of the ink on my arm.

After a couple of rereads I started to make sense of it. I started reading out loud. Any spell that worked with my own will was dangerous. A spell to switch a mind and body ran into problems of focus. It wasn't just me casting the spell. It was me subject to the hormones and instincts of another body.

Fortunately, I was trying something very different this time. I was switching the bodies of others. My own will would be unaffected, and I should be able to cast the spell normally.

Unfortunately, it seemed I had the wrong spell. This one wouldn't work on two people who weren't me.

I stared at the paper, dumbstruck. How could I have made such a simple mistake? My head started hurting. The wheels in my mind were going to keep spinning towards doing something, no matter what got in my way.

I slowly got up, and headed off. I needed a solution, and I was farther from my goal than I had been since I started this mission. But I couldn't give up. I wasn't worried. I was still an evil genius.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four - Justin

I was getting worried by the time Max came back. It was dark out. Not that my siblings couldn't take care of themselves…

Okay, there was absolutely no way I could trust them to take care of themselves. I just hoped they had remembered their cell phones for once.

Max came in around 8. He looked very pleased with himself. "You have no idea how great my day was."

"Did you follow Alex?" I asked him as I carried a tray behind the counter. The Sub Station was nearly dead by now, with only an elderly couple sitting near the window.

"I did. But then I got distracted. But then I found her again, and then she popped out and I didn't find her again. I did find out that pigeons can get really annoyed when you-" I cut him off.

"What did she do when you did follow her?" I asked. It was better than nothing.

"She went shopping. She was at a grocery store. Then she went underground to the art wall." He answered me. "Then she gave me a cupcake and popped away."

"Wait, she knew that you were following her?" I asked. Sometimes I had to wonder about Max.

"Good point." He said slowly. "Well, I did learn never to try and steal a pigeon's eggs. Those guys hate it when you try that."

I sighed again. "Do you have any homework for school?"

"No."

I looked at him.

"Alright, can you help me with it tonight?" Max looked down a bit sheepishly.

"Sure. I'll be waiting up for Alex anyway." He had tried to help me after all, sort of.

After that I spent the next hour pulling out class notes that I had saved from his grade and pouring over his textbooks with him. After that I called Harper to see if she knew where Alex was, no such luck. I waited, doing my own homework before I started reading. I kept an eye on the clock, and I felt more and more worried.

_What was she shopping for? Why did she actually want a wizard memo? Does she plan on using the spell again? What exactly is she up to?_

Of course, I didn't have any answers. This was always the part I hated the most. I knew I would have to be the one to swoop in and save my sister, but I couldn't make a plan until I knew what she had done.

At first I read, but that didn't take my mind off Alex. I looked through my folder of spells to fix Alex's messes, gathered up a small bag of undo dust, flipped through my scrapbook of the weather lady from Channel 9, read a comic, listened to music…

And I felt absolutely helpless. I wanted to go searching for Alex, but that wouldn't be smart. She could be on Mars, or back in time or anywhere at all. I just had to wait.

I sharpened the ten pencils in my binder. I checked that all my notes were in the correct order. I made sure Max was asleep. I called Zeke and Riley just to be sure she wasn't with them for some reason. I checked her bedroom every five minutes to make sure she hadn't snuck in.

_Where are you?_

And suddenly she came into the Sub Station through the door. There was a strange glint in her eye, and she hugged me. That was very unusual. This night was full of bad signs. That glint in her eye, it wasn't a normal Alex scheme glint. It was strange.

"Sorry I'm late. I need to borrow some stuff from the Lair. It shouldn't take long." And she stormed past me before I could even articulate a response.

"Alex! Where were you?" I hissed as I followed her into the Lair. "Why did you go grocery shopping? You never go shopping for anything practical."

"Ingredients for my scheme." She explained. "Anyway, nothing that you want to know about."

"Alex. I need to know about it. You have to tell me what's going on. This is weird, even for you. And that is saying something."

She smiled. "I brought you a cupcake. Same kind as I gave Max." She handed it to me. I looked at it. I sniffed it.

"Cinnamon, you know I am allergic to that. What's wrong with you tonight?"

"Nothing's wrong. Actually, I feel great, better than great, I feel alive." She laughed. "Much more alive than usual. Now, eat that cupcake."

"Alex. Have you been, um, doing something?" I sniffed, trying to smell if she had anything on her breath. All I caught was her perfume.

"Something like?" Alex grinned, making me say it.

"Have you been, well, intoxicating yourself?" I asked her. She smiled back innocently, delighted in making me broach the topic.

"No, nothing like that. Anyway, it's not really cinnamon. Please, just take a bite." Now she was pouting. And I didn't want to disappoint her. Still I wasn't stupid. This even felt a bit familiar, but I couldn't place my finger on it.

"Is this your scheme, get me to eat something I'm allergic to?" I thought out loud. It didn't seem up to her usual standards, but she was acting very weird.

"No. I don't want to hurt you. I just need your help Justin. And I would really appreciate it if you took a bite. I found the cupcake just for you." I took another sniff. There was that cinnamon smell, and _vanilla._

"Alex." I whispered, realizing what she meant. Vanilla, Juliet's perfume. Her scent, mixed in with mostly masked death and decay. Fortunately, Alex hadn't mixed any of that into the cupcake. "Why, what are you trying to do? Why are you trying to hurt me like this?

I knew it was going to be a very long night indeed.

"Since when have I needed a reason? You're my brother." The way she said it almost made me pause. She was being defensive now. I didn't get what was going on. Sure, Alex is evil, but she wouldn't strike a low blow like this.

That's when I noticed that I was chained up with a spell. "Sorry, but if you aren't going to help me I can't let you get in the way of my scheme." I stood there, furious as I plotted my next move.

She glared at me. "Justin, I'll be back soon." And she started rummaging through the Lair. _What is she after?_

There was only one option left, scream like a little girl and either Max or Harper would come running.

After she searched quickly and she grabbed something, and hid it from me. She walked out through the portal. And I was alone in the Lair for a minute. I heard footsteps outside, it sounded like Harper.

It was going to be a long night.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five - Alex

I stood there, panting. I had done worse to Justin. My mind was running too fast to really think about it. I needed to keep moving. I looked at my prize, the family wand.

But something gnawed at me. Sure, I had given Justin the cupcake hoping he would eat it because the vanilla would remind him of Juliet. I thought he would like the cupcake, not think I was trying to hurt him.

Sure the cupcake was to curse him so he would be willing to check my highly unethical magic, but I didn't mean to make him feel _bad_.

I looked at the thing. I wasn't scared, but I knew it was because of the writing on my arm. Being scared was feeling bad, so I couldn't do that.

I looked at the notes I had gathered. I needed to make sure the spell would work exactly right. I couldn't screw this up, not again. A single word out of place and I might make it so I was never born, again.

The wand was the last item I needed. I had a day's worth of supplies shopped for, stolen, and created. I had paintings of both of Mason and Juliet, the heart of a small dragon, a piece of soil from England and Egypt. Waters from volcano land, everything that I should need to draw enough power to do the impossible.

And it smelled absolutely horrible, because of the largest piece needed. The reason I hadn't done all of this before.

I grinned. I was excited, no matter how bad I couldn't feel. This was going to be cool, really cool. And I was absolutely almost sure I was not going to screw this up.

I poured over the notes on the spells first. Spells like this were unstable enough without having to improvise. Wait, could I mess with time to prevent this from happening?

_Don't try this Russo. Remember the last time you messed with time?_

I smiled. I was sure I could figure out the exact right plan. I could body swap, or shape shift, or mess with time anyway, or create new bodies, or…

My mind kept spinning in circles. I felt a strange sensation. I still _needed_ to pick something. I needed to do something helpful, not sit around deciding what to do. My head was hurting now.

But I couldn't feel bad. I had to do something. And I waved my wand, chanting my rhyme over the eight pointed star drawn in entrails. Blood wasn't enough for this, it had to be entrails. It was gross, but wicked awesome.

I could not be worried, but I was _unsure_ about the magic. I never was good with rules, even natural ones. Magic is more art than science, but something like this needs both. I wished Justin had just eaten the cupcake. If he could check my work everything would be so much less dangerous.

I felt the world shudder as I spoke. My wand glowed a color I had never seen before, almost black. I knelt down towards the star, touching my wand to it and opening the current of energy between me and the star. I felt something tear through my body. Dead magic exploded like a sun inside my head.

There are no words to describe what I did next, not to a mortal. But the spell was cast, and the world went wrong.

Things moved in the corner of my eyes, things that always existed, but never liked being seen. They looked back at me as my mind was opened to them. These were what spells looked like in their true state, twisting about inside the home we built for them. They luxuriated in dragon fire as their alien minds performed as they would to craft the world when we called them forth.

And my improvised spell shuddered as it swam through the crack, meeting her siblings. Feelers touched as the newborn monster settled into an unoccupied space and rested, her work done. She looked absolutely smug with herself.

_Farewell, mother. See you soon._

And the crack closed. Now I just needed to summon Mason and Juliet and see what still needed to be done.

I would do Juliet first. She had been in a worse situation. I started a lesser spell, one I had used many times before.

And as I waved the wand I felt a great wave of nausea. My magic felt rotten now. Something was bad inside me.

That was when Justin flashed me back.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six – Justin

I stood there as Max waved his wand. The spell caused the chains Alex had used to crack open. I would have been more grateful if it hadn't been his 8th attempt. And now I needed new clothes.

Normally I wouldn't have done it, but this time I just popped on a new shirt. I didn't have time to go through the whole hassle. Right now I needed to get Alex back before she did whatever she was going to do.

I pulled my wand out of my pocket, and found it had been frozen solid by the same spell that had encased my pants. I glared at Max.

"What, how was I to know arctic meant…"

"Just give me your wand." He did so at once. I waved it and started reciting the proper spells to teleport Alex back.

Right as I spoke I felt a shift in the air. The shift, it felt wrong. Alex was suddenly in front of me. Her face, it had a look of horror on it when she saw me.

"Justin, do you have any idea what you just did!" She shrieked. I didn't have any idea what I had just done, but I had a very strong suspicion I would be cleaning it up.

"Justin! You called me back right as I was fixing everything!" She shouted. She had a slightly delirious look in her eyes.

"Alex, calm down! I can fix it." I grabbed her shoulders. It was partly to make sure she wouldn't hex me and run away again, but it was also to try and calm her down.

She didn't calm down. She tried to raise her wand, and recited something. It must have been a spell. But she wasn't casting anything. She was trying to tell me what she had done.

"_Mason and Juliet are worse than dead. Bring them back as they rest their heads. Make all as it was before. By my words let them return." _She shouted it, trying to raise the wand to cast the spell.

That spell, I kept holding onto her, but my face went white. "Alex, what did you _do_?" I asked her. She fought me, but I kept a firm hold.

"I was bringing them back." She had thankfully stopped shouting. "That's what you want, isn't it?"

_Mason, not so much._

"Alex, those words, do you have any idea how many ways that could go wrong?" My mind was already thinking of horrible ways it could go wrong. I would need to start writing down possible ways that it could go wrong as soon as I wasn't restraining my sister.

Then Harper spoke up. "Justin, check her arm."

"NO!" Alex shouted. She started struggling harder. I had to admit, my little sister was strong.

"Max, help me." I said as Alex got the upper hand. He leapt into the fray, and was downed with a flailing hand from Alex. "Sorry!" She shouted, but she didn't stop struggling. Max muttered something I didn't catch while I tried to hold onto Alex.

Harper was the one to step in and grab her, allowing me to lift the arm.

I saw the writing on her arm. I recognized it. But the writing, it felt hot as I put my hand on it and started rubbing it away. She had been resisting it, or not been able to follow it. That was always bad.

"Max, get water." I told him. He rushed off and returned a moment later with a bottle of water. I rubbed off the writing rapidly. The ink was gone, but the words left red marks, hot marks.

Alex collapsed, looking bad, very bad. "Justin, I, thank you." And she sat down on the floor. I was scared for her now. Her mind had to be twisted a lot for the marks to be burning her.

"Harper, can you help me move her?" Harper smiled at me. Harper took the legs and I took her front as we moved her out of the lair and into the sandwich shop proper.

"Harper, you have to tell me what is going on." I said it quietly, once Alex was upstairs and in her bed.

The two of us locked eyes.

The night wasn't even close to over.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven – Harper

I beamed as I sat next to Justin. I felt his warmth close to me as we positioned Alex down on her bed.

"Harper, you know something. You knew she had the ink on her arm. What did she tell you about the marker?"

I wanted to hold out for my friend. But Justin's eyes, those magnificent eyes were looking into mine. And I knew Justin. He would know what to do if I just told him everything. He always knew what to do.

"She showed me once. She just wrote on her arm to get positive. It was to get a boy. Didn't you notice when she was acting all weird and happy and cheering the other team?"

Justin swallowed then. He looked scared. I wanted to comfort him, but I didn't want to ruin the moment. Justin had asked for my help.

"Justin? Alex didn't tell me everything about the marker, did she?" I asked Justin.

"No. I showed her the thing." Justin's voice was pained. It took a lot not to just hold him right then, but this was a bad time. For once he was opening up to me. So I was quiet, and let Justin speak.

"That marker, I gave it to her after the whole thing with Mason and Juliet. She was so sad, I wanted to help her. I got it from a wizard doctor when Juliet was missing. Those kinds of things are used all the time in the magic world to deal with issues like that. How was I to know she would abuse the thing?"

"Well, it is Alex." I pointed out. "Doesn't she always abuse her powers?" I knew I had said the wrong thing then. But Alex did always abuse her powers, didn't she?

"I know she does." He looked downcast. "I should have seen this coming."

I put my hand on his back, hoping he wouldn't reject it. "Don't worry. Alex would have done something terrible anyway." I smiled at him, hoping it would help. His face didn't look any better.

"She never killed anyone before." He said, and the way his voice sounded _broken_ then, that struck me first. Then I realized what he had said.

And I didn't say anything at all. What was there to say?

I watched him look down at his sister now. He traced the marks on her arm. They were red. Not just red, they had burned her.

"She wasn't in control. She couldn't have been." Justin traced the lines with his fingers. "The words, they say don't feel bad. She couldn't have been feeling anything. And she might not have done it. You saw how out of it she was. She might have just been starting. She said she was in mid spell."

"You're right. This is Alex. She probably took a nap halfway through. She couldn't have done that." I felt so strange. Justin was letting me in more than he ever had before. Even when we dated under Cupid's arrow he hadn't really opened like this. In any other situation this would have been wonderful. I had been waiting for this since I met him.

But my best friend might have just killed someone.

"Is she going to be alright?" I asked him. Justin considered his sister's arm before putting it back.

"The marker can't cause permanent damage. But I don't know what else she did to herself. If she was really trying to bring Mason back she would have pushed herself too far. And her powers must have been twisting anyway, using them under powerful mental influence."

I tried to be cautious, but I needed to know something. "Justin, she said she was bringing back both Mason _and_ Juliet. Could she be back?"

Justin didn't answer me. He just looked out the window.

And that's when I heard the voices outside the door.

"It's great to have you back! Alex will be thrilled it worked!" Max sounded happy. And I felt something rise in my throat.

"You wouldn't happen to know if there is anything I can wear, do you? I happen to lack clothing at the moment." That accented voice. Mason was back. Alex's spell had worked.

I saw Justin take one last look at his sister before he got on his feet. He paused, and took the wand from Alex's pocket. There were always things I didn't get about magic, but Justin always had a reason when he did something.

Justin stood up, and I leaped off the bed to stand next to him. It felt right to support him here.

And Max opened the door. The two walked in. Max looked happy, and Mason…

Mason was a werewolf. Sure I had seen him like that before, but something felt different about it. Maybe because he was inside Alex's room. Outside of it Mason had looked dark and primal, romantic underneath the moon. Inside here he felt invasive, intimidating.

Or maybe it was just because he was naked. He'd looked cute in when he wore people clothes. He would have looked cuter in a dog hair sweater, but he still looked cute. Naked he looked like an animal, but his face was too human. He wasn't clean either. The whole thing was unsettling, and I was very glad that Justin was standing beside me.

Justin and Mason looked at each other. The moment was fierce, tense. I held my breath, unsure what was going to happen.

And that was when Max unleashed the power of sheer randomness to confuse the situation still further.

"Oh, _that's_ where I put my wand. Thanks Justin." And he pulled his wand out of Justin's pants. Max smiled at us. "I'll see what I can do about clothes." He waved his wand, and a flash of light later I was staring at Mason in a short little dress.

At that point I was sure things could not possibly get weirder. I should have known better, I was living with wizards.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight – Alex

My mind, it felt _raw_. It was like when I washed my hands too hard, or something, but in my mind. Okay, right now I am in no state for making witty analogies. It felt _bad_. Get it?

I wasn't sure how long I had been out for. I heard murmurs. It sounded like Harper and Justin, and a third voice. I must not have been thinking too clearly because I thought I heard _another_ voice.

Wait.

No, this wasn't possible, was it? I started listening carefully. The voice, it was Mason's.

"You should leave before she gets up. You are not cool with any of us." Justin's voice and it was that indignant way he always got when it really mattered to him.

"You're still cool with me." Max of course. "We should arrange to meet up at the Late Night Bite."

"Max! He destroyed my girlfriend, broke our sister's heart, and tried to kill me!" Justin was being logical. That always annoyed me. I decided to pretend I was still asleep and see what I could learn. Last time I did that the whole school learned about Justin's crush on the Channel 9 Weather Girl.

"Please, I am very sorry about that. You know I can't control myself when I turn full wolf. And you saw the necklace, she really does love me. And I love her too. The necklace went both ways."

"I also saw you trying to kill me and scratching my girlfriend, removing her vampire powers!"

"It wasn't all fun and games for me either! I've been a wolf without hands! Do you know how difficult it is to cook like that?" Mason could cook? I smiled, that was good to know.

"Get out, now!" Justin was angry. I had a feeling that I might somehow be responsible for that anger.

"I am not leaving until I see her!" Hm, Mason didn't like my brother getting angry at him.

"Then you aren't leaving, are you?" Justin's voice came out smugly.

"Yes," came both Max and Mason's voices. I smiled as I heard the two high five.

"You know that came out wrong." Justin was on the defensive now, poor Justin.

"So I can stay?" Mason sounded strangely eager.

"No you can't stay!" Justin seemed to be recovering from his earlier words.

"But you said he could."

I couldn't help giggling, and all eyes turned to me.

"You're awake!" Harper squealed. The high pitched joy of my friend was always a pain, but it was Harper. Can't live with her, can't cast a spell on her without your brother finding out about it and getting you grounded.

"Ouch. Harper, please keep the noise to a minimum." I must have felt better. I was getting my wit back.

_I didn't actually get my full wit back, did I?_

Harper seemed to have calmed down somewhat. I looked around the room. My eyes turned to Mason, who seemed to be wearing _my dress_? There had to be a story to that. Max was standing next to him, and Harper was next to Justin. Justin smiled at me and gave me a little disapproving nod. I could tell he was happy to see me awake.

"Well well. You're awake." Darn it was _that_ tone. His smirking face, the way he looked at me. I wouldn't ever admit it, but it kills me when he does that.

"Shut up Justin." I glared at him. And he turned his head away from me, going back to glaring at Mason. The nerve of the guy! I was the sick one!

I took revenge by throwing up over the side of my bed. Okay maybe it was less 'revenge' and more 'feeling horribly sick' but I had a point to make here!

And Mason tried to move towards me. Justin stood in his way, and I wasn't sure what to think about that.

"You're sick." He got on his tip toes and talk to me over Justin.

"Oh, just a little case of spell indigestion." I tried to giggle, but it was kind of hard to giggle when I had a headache and a stomach in rebellion.

"Alex, you're recovering from some very bad magic." Justin didn't look at me as he talked. "And you obviously aren't thinking too clearly, or have you forgotten about the marker?" The marker, I touched my arm. That must have explained the raw feeling of my mind. My skin felt raw where the ink had been, I had been rubbed clean of any mystical mind effects.

And that's when I felt another wave of nausea, as I realized what I'd done earlier that night.

"Please let me help." Mason's voice was urgent. "I'll do anything you ask, just let me be here to help you. I owe you my life after all."

"That accent still gives him an unfair advantage." I heard Harper whisper to Justin. "Don't buy into it!" Since when did Harper work against Mason? That brought up the question, should I listen to her or just write her off as trying to get close to Justin? I was just too tired to give this the thought it deserved.

"Let him stay." I muttered. And then I glared at him, he _had_ hurt me pretty bad. "But keep a leash on him."

Justin and I shared a look as he turned his head. Our eyes met over his shoulder, and he winked at me.

"Well the walls are kind of spinning around me right now. Would you mind taking your party somewhere else?" I asked weakly. Justin nodded.

"We'll continue this elsewhere while my sister gets some sleep." And Justin led everyone out. A moment later Max came back in and waved his wand, and the vomit was in a bag.

"Never can have too much of this." He nodded to me. Normally I would have been worried, but right now there were more important things to worry about.

Once he was gone I smiled. "_Some people are a gem, some people are a rat, to know who's who, give me the ear of a bat."_ I tried to cast the spell, and was hit by the old wave of nausea. I wouldn't be spying on Justin and Mason tonight. I lay back, falling back to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine – Justin

_Juliet is coming back!_

For all the stress, the confusion, the fear of this night, I couldn't stop thinking about that. I kept pushing it out of my head. There were other things, more important things right now. I needed to take care of Alex, I needed to make sure Mason wasn't a threat, I needed to figure out what Max wanted with Alex's vomit…

_I am never going to understand what Max wants with Alex's vomit_.

But right now I needed to learn what had happened to Mason. We sat in the living room. Max had disappeared. Now it was me, Mason, and Harper.

"So, what happened?" I looked at Mason. "What did Alex's spell do to you?"

Mason looked slightly defiant for a moment. Oddly enough it was Harper who knew what to do.

"You see, we don't know what exactly she did. We need to know what the spell did in order to help her." Harper has her moments.

Mason paused, silently thinking about what he had experienced. "I was in Transylvania. I had just finished eating one of those adorable fawns out there. They were really quite tasty. Then I sat down for a nap." He was quiet for another few seconds. "Then I felt weird, it smelled like sulfur and your sister, her wizard scent, pine tree and brick, paper and paint. But the sulfur smoke almost drowned that out. I haven't smelled that in a long time."

"Please, can we talk about something _besides_ my sister's smell?" I asked him.

"Oh, I am so sorry. Well, after the smell there was the crash. I felt my body being ripped out of my soul."

Harper was looking freaked out by now. It was kind of comforting to know she hadn't changed. "Don't you mean the other way around?" She asked him.

"No, it feels like something is being ripped out of you when you have your body changed by magic." I explained. It felt good to be able to explain something.

Mason continued after we were done. "It felt awful. After I felt my bodying being pulled out I felt something being pushed back in. I suddenly was in my old body, and I was in your sandwich shop. And I was naked. Speaking of which, do you have anything more comfortable to wear?" He gestured at Alex's dress.

"Nope, I don't want you getting dog hair on my clothing." I smirked. I liked him just the way he was.

_That isn't horribly weird at all._

"Now, get on with what happened." Mason nodded.

"I smelled sulfur here. And I smelled Alex. I thought it was a dream, a wonderful dream. And then Max came along. Your brother has a way of shocking you out of such preconceptions." Mason smiled apologetically.

_True, but he is my brother!_

"We are still totally not cool." I reminded him.

"Please just let me stay for tonight. I really don't have anywhere else to go." Mason looked somewhat nervous.

I was just so close to kicking him out when Harper brought up another good point. The girl was doing that a lot tonight, especially for a girl who was wearing a cardigan wrapped in Christmas tree lights in late February.

"Justin, have you thought that he might actually be useful? We don't know exactly what Alex did in her spell. It might be a bad idea to make him leave right now." The girl had a point.

_Anyway we should keep watch on Mason, just in case my sister actually turned him into a zombie or something."_

"He can sleep in the Lair, with it locked from the outside." I announced.

_Juliet is coming back!_

And it was way passed my own self imposed bedtime. I really needed to sleep if she was coming back.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten - Alex

I woke up to breakfast in bed. I think it was Mason who did it. Justin would have known I liked the chocolate chip pancakes. From the smell of it Mason was trying to apologize. There was a lot of smell around the house.

I dug into breakfast. My stomach had been empty all night. It was still a bit queasy, but I needed to eat something.

I hadn't finished eating yet when I heard a knock on my door. I muttered muffled words through my pancakes, and Justin entered. I spit out my food at the sight of him.

"Justin, why are you wearing your green tuxedo?" I giggled.

"Well, Juliet will be coming back today. Juliet was a vampire, so she will be going down to bed at sunrise. According to a letter from her she is currently living in Phoenix, Arizona. Sunrise there is at 6:58 AM today. We have a five hour time difference, meaning she will be arriving at 11:58."

"Wait? I got up before noon on a Sunday? Why am I getting up early when I'm sick?" My face fell as I looked at him. "Wait, you still didn't explain why you are wearing your green tuxedo."

"Well, Harper kind of destroyed my normal one, and I want to look nice for Juliet." Justin sat down on my bed. "Are you feeling better? Do you remember what happened last night?"

"Last night? Um, I remember I went shopping."

Justin glared at me.

"Um, I saved your girlfriend from being old and wrinkled?" Justin's gaze kept up the same intensity.

"I forgot to bring up that Juliet is going to suddenly appear in a busy sandwich shop in the middle of the day with windows letting sun in?" Justin reacted to that.

"This conversation is not over!" He shouted before he bolted from the room to empty out the Sub Station. Now I could finish eating in peace.

But just as I started in on eating Max came in looking panicked. "Alex, you have to help me!" His voice was frightened. He sat down on my bed. I barely managed to save my tray of food.

"Max, I am kind of going through my own stuff right now. Can't you get someone else to help you?" I was starting to feel the clenching in my stomach again. I had definitely gone too far last night.

"I have a girlfriend!" Max blurted out.

I stared at Max, dumbfounded.

"How?" I managed to get out.

"Well I was trying to follow you in the wizard mall yesterday, and this girl came up to me. This girl is really hot. She's blond, has these wonderful green eyes, and half her body is a horse." Max smiled.

"So what is the problem? Is it really more important than your poor sister eating breakfast?" I batted my eyelashes at Max before looking longingly at my food.

"I really like her, but I have no idea what to do. Last time this happened it really didn't go so well." Max grimaced.

"Oh yeah, the time you pretended Justin was your waiter and… yeah, you told me about that." I nodded. Then I considered what was happening. "Wait, why haven't you gone to Justin about this?"

Max put up his hands. "I am not going _near_ him today. He has been acting _weird_ all day."

_Wouldn't it make sense for him to act weird today?_

"Well, I can't really help you. Maybe you could go ask Harper for help?" Good old Harper. What would I do without her?

"Harper destroyed Justin's tuxedo and ran off shouting about PE, which is strange as Justin does not take PE with her." Max nodded while looking forward.

"Oh just let me eat in peace please!" I whined.

"You are really being a bad sister lately." Max shook his head and left. I smiled and dug into the food.

_Darn it I didn't ask anything about Mason._ I realized a moment later.

I tried to get up, and failed. My legs felt weak, and my magic still wasn't working after last night's exercitations.

It seemed I was stuck with nothing to do and no one to talk to for now. Well I had gotten up for too early, so I cheerfully lay back down for another nap. I suspected that I would be awakened by joyful Justin celebration soon enough anyway.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven – Mason

I always thought that a Wizard's Lair would be an interesting place to spend a night. I was wrong.

All of the interesting things were incomprehensible, unusable, or extremely dangerous. During the night I had managed to end up in Siberia for two nerve wracking hours.

And now I was in the kitchen, making sandwiches. Human sandwiches were really boring. I was used to the ones made out of real witches.

I had worked in restaurants before. Working in places like this comes with the territory of being perpetually seventeen. It was either this, or working as a werewolf. And I had quenched my thirst for blood decades ago.

I heard Justin race passed and start shouting. He seemed intent on ruining their business for some reason. Well that meant less work for me.

A few moments later Justin had emptied out the sandwich shop. "Help me. We need to cover all the windows!" He shouted. Well, I was trying to get on the boy's good side. I started to help cover the windows with him.

"Would there be a reason _why_ you decided to force everyone out of your sandwich shop?" I asked him as I pounded nails into the board he was holding up.

"Juliet! Sun! Burning death!" He gasped out.

_Oh._

"That would be a very good reason to force everyone out of your sandwich shop."

Several minutes later the crisis had passed. I looked around the sandwich shop. Justin looked panicked and exhausted.

"So, did you make any progress on determining exactly how your sister brought me back?" I asked him carefully.

Justin looked at me. And I smelled fear all over him. Justin was absolutely terrified of answering my question. But he didn't have to know that I knew he was terrified.

"I mean, I haven't heard of a wizard saving one of my kind from being a wolf before. And you didn't tell us that you would save us before we walked away into the woods." I left my sentence trailing away in the air.

"Because we can't. Not without going too far." Justin stared out into space.

"Too far?" I asked.

"She could have asked a genie, or made a deal with a demon. But those aren't spells, and I know she cast a spell. She could have drained a powerful wizard, but that would be far beyond her capabilities. Or she could have killed someone to power the effect."

I stared at Justin.

"Alex, is she really, could she really…"

"Normally, never in a million years. That's why we didn't do it the night you two were lost. But she wasn't herself last night. My sister was running on orders from a powerful psychological tool. She could have done anything last night."

I looked at the boarded up windows. The idea of Alex having gone so far was strange. Even in her evil pranks she had always shown that touch of innocence. But murder?

"Would you mind leaving? I don't know how Juliet will react to seeing you." Justin looked at me. I nodded and left the room. Too bad, I really did want to see Juliet again. I was sure our conversation would have been interesting.

And I really wished I had the chance to change out of Alex's dress.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve – Justin

She was back!

I spun her around again, laughing. I knew I would pay for this later, but my woman was back with me. I kissed her lips, her forehead, her hair, and she smiled back at me. I loved the cold feel of her flesh against mine.

"Justin, _what happened_?" She shocked me out of my haze. At least her tone did, her icy body kept luring me back to the haze.

"Alex." I explained. "I'm not sure what she did exactly, but it wasn't good."

"Justin, what do you mean by that? I was just in a nursing home in Phoenix, and now I'm back in your sandwich shop. What did Alex do?"

Then suddenly she stiffened against me. She was hearing something. A moment later she had dragged me up the stairs. Then I realized why, Mason had turned on the TV.

"The masked girl was seen breaking into the prison with a bulldozer. She smashed through the courtyard fence and dragged a single inmate whose name has not been disclosed out of the prison. According to witnesses the inmate put up a great deal of resistance, but was overpowered."

While the woman talked they showed video camera footage of what just had to be a determined Alex dragging a terrified looking blurred face.

Mason and Juliet stared at me as the woman started talking about the warden's statement.

I just started blabbering then, trying to explain. After a few seconds Juliet put her fingers over my lips.

"Justin, is Alex in danger?" Her voice was insistent, firm. I stopped talking and started thinking.

"Yes, if anyone can trace that back to her. Something so blatant would require action. She would probably have her feet cut off."

"They still do that?" Mason sounded surprised. "I thought they abolished maiming based punishment?"

Juliet clicked her tongue and Mason shut up.

"What do we do?" Juliet asked me. I was glad I decided what we needed to do last night.

"We need to bring Alex to Butcher." I explained. Juliet gasped.

"You can't be saying you'll just let them cut your sister's feet off! She helped me before, I can't let them do that to her. How can you be so cruel Justin?"

I held up my hands. "Butcher is the name of my dad's wizard doctor. Alex is sick from what she did last night. Before we do anything else we need to know what happened to her.

"Oh." Juliet looked down and shuffled her feet. I hugged her.

"Thanks for your indignation. Now you get Alex and bring her with me through the portal. I'll gather the equipment I repaired. Mason, stay here and man the sandwich shop." I pointed to each of us in turn. I felt in my element, having a plan unfold perfectly.

"Justin? You do remember I can't go to a doctor in the magic world. I am a wanted vampire." My plan was unfolding imperfectly.

"We need a new plan." I said slowly. There was no way I was carrying Alex and the equipment I wanted through the portal.

I went over possible assistants in my mind. Max kept disappearing. I had no idea where he was. Harper had already run off over Juliet. Mom wouldn't be helpful in the magic world, and Dad was still off at the emergency convention wizard security convention in Delaware.

Then I smiled, I had an idea.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen – Alex

"This is your plan? Cloning yourself?" I asked Justin in disbelief.

"Do you have a better idea?" Justin, the first Justin, asked me.

"I didn't expect you to steal my best ideas." I muttered as Justin One helped me walk downstairs. I still felt dizzy and sick, so I just let Justin help me.

"This was one that blew up in your face last time." Justin replied. Justin had that smile on his face again.

"Oh, right. The only time I cloned myself it blew up in my face. Yeah, that works." I said, mostly to myself. _So he doesn't know about the other time, good._

I held onto Justin as we walked down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs was another Justin, this one was outfitted with gear that I was sure Justin considered to be adventurer gear.

"Dork." I told Justin Two. He just smiled back at me. I rolled my eyes right back at him.

"Now, we need to get going." Justin One announced.

"I agree. We need to get Alex fixed as soon as possible." Justin Two nodded at Justin One.

"Thank you Justin. I'm glad to see that someone appreciates the seriousness of the situation." Justin One told Justin Two.

I let out a groan that was almost a scream. This was my worst nightmare. There were two of them, and I was helpless to take them down a peg.

The two smiled at each other.

"Okay, we're going." Justin Two announced. "Justin, look after Juliet."

"I will guard her with my life." I heard the voice of a new Justin.

"My Gosh, there's _more_ of you?" I whimpered.

"Yes. Since I was making an assistant I thought I might as well leave one to guard Juliet, and since I was on a roll I left one to help run the sandwich shop." Justin One looked so pleased with himself I wanted to smack him. So I did.

"Hey! Leave Justin alone!" Justin Two told me.

"Thank you Justin." Justin One smiled at Justin Two.

"Argh! Can we just leave already?" I practically begged. Not very dignified, but I was sick.

"Sure thing, Alex." Justin supported me as we headed into the Lair. Juliet was sitting on the couch, sipping something red. Justin Three was sitting next to her.

"Goodbye Justin." Juliet told Justin One. "And goodbye Justin." She told Justin Two. She kissed both of them on the cheeks.

"Hey!" All three Justins said in unison.

"Sorry." Juliet looked embarrassed.

"It's alright." Justin Two assured her.

"Not really…" Justin Three started to talk, but was silenced by a glare from Justins Two and One.

"Just open the door." I told Justin Three. "I really don't want to sit through this soap opera."

Justin Three opened the portal door and we left. After a brief journey through the netherworlds of hyperspace and the shadow realm we arrived at Butcher's Office.

"You two sit down while I get us in." Justin One told us. I was glad to sit down. Of course it had to be next to the brother outfitted like Indiana Jones. And he had that stupid bejeweled cane with him again, I'd thought I had hidden that thing from him months ago.

"Won't Mom and Dad be mad that you ruined so many pictures of you to make the clones?" I asked Justin Two while Justin One went up to the front desk.

"Nope, I made us out of my campaign posters for the upcoming student body election." Justin explained proudly.

"Justin, that election isn't for nearly a month. Why do you already have your campaign posters printed out?" I asked him.

"It is important to start a campaign early so you can spread awareness." Justin Two smiled. "Not that you ever start anything early. Maybe if you did you would learn that it pays to be prepared."

I was about to deliver one of my snappy comebacks, but I started dry heaving again. Those pancakes had just not stayed down.

Justin helpfully held my hair back in case anything spilled out, and patted my on the back once I was done. He wiped my mouth and cleaned what little had come up with his wand. Annoying as Justin can be, he wasn't going to fight me when I was like this.

We were silent for a moment, and I looked around the waiting room. There was a very annoyed looking centaur with a silver arrow in her chest leaning against a wall, a pair of African tribesmen (or something primitive, geography is not my subject) whispering in a hushed conversation off smacking lips and burps and tongue clicks, totally gross, and what looked like a tree being carted around by a very nervous looking twelve year old girl.

I smiled at the girl, and she smiled back. It reminded me of the first time I had been here.

"Hi." Justin Two smiled at the girl. "What is your name?"

"Olivia." She smiled back at us.

"Hi, I'm Justin and this is Alex." Justin Two knelt down a bit.

"You turned someone into a tree, right?" I asked her. I smiled a bit.

"Yeah, it's my mom. It was an accident." She looked to be nearly on the verge of tears.

"Don't worry about it. Butcher can fix just about anything. He reconstructed me from a broken action figure once." Justin winked at Olivia.

"Hey, it was Max who broke you. I thought you would like being a doll." I laughed at him.

"Action figure, Alex. I was an action figure." He gritted his teeth.

"You were in a dress." I was feeling much better now that I wasn't outnumbered. I almost had my groove back.

"You're funny." Olivia laughed and smiled up at me.

"I always seem that way at first." I winked.

"She always does." Justin agreed with me.

Justin One returned, looking relieved as the two tribal men walked into the office. He sat down next to us.

"It won't be long. Butcher's having a slow day." He looked around the office.

"So, are you two brothers?" Olivia asked Justin Two.

"Nope, we're clones." Justin Two explained.

"I made him out of a picture using my dad's copier." Justin One explained.

"We needed to guard my girlfriend and take care of my sister." Justin Two added.

"You sound nice, and your girlfriend is pretty." Olivia looked far more at ease now, her mind having been taken off of her mother's current plantdom.

"She is. How did you know?" Justin One's eyes twinkled.

"Her hair, and her eyes, the way she is only warm just after she eats." Justin Two looked off into the distance, which happened to be at the annoyed centaur.

"The way she always smells like vanilla, just tinted with the smell of earth, and that mildly putrid smell." Justin One was also looking into the distance that happened to be an annoyed centaur.

I waited for them to figure it out as they chatted with Olivia. This was the most fun I'd had since, well, I'd been on my positivity high. Did that count? I wasn't sure.

The Justin Duo chatted cheerfully about Juliet with the girl as the centaur entered the office, being sure to give the Justins dirty looks. Finally I caught the words I had been waiting for.

"You really must love Alex, don't you?" Olivia asked innocently.

Justin One fell out of his chair. Justin Two probably would have if it hadn't been for the support of his stupid cane.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Blurted Justin One.

"She's my sister!" Blurted Justin Two.

"I could have prevented that, but I thought it would be more fun to just let it happen." I giggled. I felt two Justin glares.

"Oh, sorry. Your sister is pretty then." Olivia managed to get out. She looked a bit freaked out by the whole thing.

"I know." I tossed back my hair, which may have caused another dizzy spell. Justin Two was holding my hair back while I retched again as Justin One explained things to Olivia.

"My sister is sick, but my girlfriend needs to stay at home." Justin was good at explaining things. Really good…

At least I didn't have anything left inside me by now.

By the time I was gone a suddenly happy looking centaur had left without an arrow poking out, and Olivia and her mother were getting fixed up by Butcher. We sat in awkward silence for a while. Or rather the Justins sat in awkward silence while I managed to get Justin Two to give me his cane so I could poke the seat cushions.

A couple minutes later Olivia and her mother came out. Olivia's mother looked mad, tugging her daughter along. Olivia waved goodbye to us.

Now it was time to enter Butcher's Office. Justin One helped me walk as we entered.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen – Morpheus (Justin Clones)

We entered the office. My stomach was a knot of worry. I wasn't even really sure we should be here. If Butcher realized what happened and turned us in it would be my fault.

But I was pretty sure that Alex wouldn't survive if Butcher didn't save her.

And I was being Justin Russo. I cared about Alex dying.

Butcher laughed when we came in. "Alex and Justin! I haven't seen you in years! I guess you've been keeping her on the straight and narrow!" He laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. I nearly fell down when he did that.

"Not even close, I just know enough spells to undo most of her damage." I shook my head a bit, mimicking Justin Russo.

Justin Russo helped Alex onto the hospital bed. She sat there looking around the room. I talked to Butcher. "She's been like this since last night. She can't keep anything down. She keeps getting dizzy spells and she can't keep anything down. It was a spell gone wrong."

Butcher nodded.

The man was fat, but he was large and strong. His face was permanently either scowling or smiling. He had summoned me many times as a youth, and I remembered that well. I had died a hundred times as he trained to be a warrior.

I respected Butcher.

_At the same time I comforted Juliet Van Heusen. Justin would support his girlfriend._

_"Justin, I thought I was going to die." She cried into my shoulder. I held her close, letting her freezing skin into my embrace. I felt her lips against my neck._

_"It's alright. I'm here for you. You can let it all out." I whispered into her ear. She cried to me. I was being Justin Russo. I shared her pain, because Justin Russo needed to save his sister more than Justin Russo needed to help the woman who had died for him._

"What did you use for the spell?" Butcher asked Alex.

Alex looked down. "I can't tell you."

"No, you can. You can trust me. I never betray a patient." Butcher smiled at the girl. She smiled back.

I knew why he never betrayed a patient. His price was far too high for that. But I was being Justin Russo, and Justin Russo did not know that.

"I used something called a Red Trade thing." Alex explained. "I found it in the book of Forbidden Spells last summer. I didn't need it, but hey, it looked really cool. And it had lots of pictures so it was easy to understand. I like it when spellbooks have pictures. It's so much easier that way."

Butcher growled.

"She did it under the influence of a Class 3 Psychotherapy Object." Justin Russo offered. He pointed to Alex's arm, and Butcher took it in his hands.

"What was the purpose of the spell? Why did you need to draw such power?" Butcher asked Alex.

"Oh, um, it was nothing much really. I was just, well, undoing the damage to a vampire who lost her powers and a permanently wolfed out werewolf." Alex explained to Butcher.

Butcher's grip tightened for just a bit. "Why?" He asked her.

Alex looked away, and Justin Russo didn't know. But I am nice. I spared the two the pain.

"She did it because the vampire died saving my life, and the werewolf loved her." I broke my duties, but Alex was going through enough. The wizards didn't need more of this.

Alex smiled, she was thanking me. She was thanking Justin.

_Juliet was thanking Justin, too._

_"I thought I was dead. After all those years, I thought it had finally come. I was so scared. I was in a bed at a nursing home. I was living off a tube. I could barely talk. And then, I was back. I was golden. And you were there. Your face, I kept seeing it when I was lying there. I thought you were a dream, but then I smelled your blood. I couldn't smell right, not even in my dreams, not without my true powers."_

_I was being Justin Russo. I accepted her kisses, her embrace, and her thanks. Juliet was old, almost as old as me. She would know to give Justin the real thanks. She wasn't thinking right, not yet. But I am nice, I was there for her._

_"Thank you, thank you." She cried. Her body shuddered with relief. She looked into my eyes, and I saw a hunger in them._

"I had a painting, dirt from places they were born, some water from volcano land, the heart of a dragon I killed, oh, and of course the entrails." Alex explained to Butcher.

"It's a bloody miracle you got it as right as you did." Butcher said. I didn't mention that Butcher is English. It was not important.

"I know." Justin Russo shook his head. "I was surprised we didn't have invaders from someplace outside of the universe this time."

"Hey, that only happened once." Alex crossed her arms. "And she was way cooler than most of the girls at school."

"Alex, she ate Mom's engagement ring."

"She gave it back once we explained-"Butcher cut her off.

"Not the time or the place for this. Now, I can repair the damage you did to your soul, but I can't heal it."

"Um, you kind of lost me there. Could you say that again?" Alex was not admitting that she was scared. But I was Justin Russo, I knew she was scared.

"That's what you did. You cut your soul with that spell. I can keep it from falling apart, but the fracture will remain." Butcher looked at her, he had a look of pity in his eyes.

"My _soul_ is broken!" Alex shouted. Justin Russo's jaw had dropped. So had mine, I needed to imitate him.

_"I need you, Justin." Juliet told me. I felt her grip clench around me._

_"No." I whispered back. "You need this body's blood."_

_Juliet nodded. "I can't eat Justin, I can't kill anyone. Not now, I have a second chance. You're the only answer."_

_I put my neck to her mouth, and she bit in. I tasted just like Justin. I let my mind take his shape as she killed me._

_And that body was dead. It was freaky, but it was hardly wrong. There wasn't a better option, and no one was hurt._

"There is a way to fix you." Butcher was explaining to Alex as my body died.

"She'll do it." Justin Russo glared down at her. "We are going to fix you and leave all of this behind us." Justin Russo looked up at Butcher. "What is it she has to do?"

Butcher smiled. "Only way to fix damage like that is the opposite of how it was done."

Alex put her hand to her head. "Can't you speak in English? You were being really cool and understandable until just now."

_Juliet finished with my body. It collapsed into a picture, and Juliet started cleaning herself. She liked to be clean, I knew that about her. I had been Juliet before. I had been very clean when I was Juliet._

_"Thank you, Morpheus." She whispered to the picture. I didn't smile, but I felt good as my consciousness left the room. I liked Juliet. I like everyone because I am nice._

"Save a life." Butcher smiled at her. "Do it with magic and your soul can start healing."

"You mean I have to help people." Alex sighed.

"Yes, I know it will be really hard doing something for someone other than yourself." Justin Russo taunted her.

I was being Justin Russo. I couldn't point out that she had just killed one to save two lives. She had taken all the blame onto her shoulders. But Justin could push too far with Alex, and she could push too far back. I had already done more than I should here.

We left a minute later, and a Cyclops followed us into Butcher's office. The man's work never done. Soon we had returned through the shadow realm and hyperspace, returning through the portal. Juliet looked up and smiled at us. The moment Russo had set his sister down she leapt into his arms.

"Where did my clone go?" He asked her.

"Um, he disappeared. I think you should check the ink cartridge to your machine." Juliet said innocently. I nodded at her over Justin Russo's shoulder.

"Oh, um." Justin Russo waved his wand, and I was gone. I had been nice, I had helped them a lot.

I wondered why Juliet had lied to Justin Russo. Well, it wasn't my problem. I was being a painting as a smart wizard girl learned about history. I was being nice again.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 – Justin

Juliet leapt up into my arms once Alex was safely on the couch. "I missed you, Justin." I held her close, as if she might slip away. I felt her cold and hard breasts dig into my chest, I felt her arms holding me just a bit too tightly from the back. I loved the tightness of her embrace. It made her feel real.

"I thought I'd lost you, forever." I whispered into her hair.

"I know. Thank you, thank you so much." I felt her almost frozen lips against my ear.

"Hey, no love for the girl who cut her soul open to save your life?" Came Alex's grumpy voice. She did not sound happy.

"Sorry." Juliet laughed. I love her laugh, it makes me feel warm inside. "I love you too." She knelt down and hugged Alex by bending over. Her hair fell down over Alex's head. Alex squirmed against her cold body, but I could tell she was glad she was being thanked.

I looked away. Not that I didn't like seeing my sister and my girlfriend getting along, but Juliet's hospital garment didn't have a real back. _I didn't think I'd see that for a long time_.

And that's when my wand rang.

Juliet snatched it from my pocket before I could answer it. Her slender fingers drew it from my pocket and out before I had even noticed she had moved. My girl was fast.

My wand had unthawed from last night's mishap, but I kept the Family Wand. I didn't want to take any chances, not now.

"Does this have caller ID?" Juliet asked me.

"Yes it does." I answered her. I smiled and the name and number appeared. VAN HEUSEN.

"Let me answer it." She asked me. She gave me that smile, and I couldn't say no to her, even though I was dying to know what her parents had to say.

I smiled at her. "Of course, Juliet. They're your parents."

Juliet answered the phone. The voices on the other end, I didn't like them. I heard clicks and pops and harsh words coming from the other end.

Juliet answered in kind. I felt suddenly scared. I was seeing my girlfriend emit sounds I had never heard a girl make before, awful sounds. And I understood every single word.

I had to wonder, why was Juliet speaking Alien?

"**Tell us where you are, Acenith. Let us come and slay the Child of the Moon."** Came a voice from inside the wand.

"**No, Lord of Night and Shadows. You shall not slay the Greyback."** Juliet announced. And her face, it was beautiful. Even as her cheeks poofed out and her tongue clicked against the roof of her mouth.

"**The Lamia has her eyes on you. We shall come at midnight, and you shall know my wrath. Give up the Childe and the Witch, and we shall spare the youngest."** My head was spinning, trying to keep up with the conversation. I had never heard Alien spoken so fluently, so naturally before. I so badly wanted to take out a pen and start writing it down. But, something didn't feel right.

"**You can try. I will fight here, with Justin."** I watched my girlfriend. I was just so confused, nothing made sense anymore. I wanted to ask her, but the conversation wasn't over, not quite yet. But I saw her eyes sparkle, and I knew she was speaking with her heart.

"**I would hate to eat another of my children. You have until midnight."** That was another voice, a woman's voice. And it sent chills up and down my spine.

And my wand disconnected. Juliet was shaking.

"What just happened?" I asked my vampire.

"My parents, they are going to kill us all." Juliet told me.

"Really? I always thought I would be the one to do that." Alex remarked from the couch.

I ignored my sister, I was making my way to the whiteboard.

"No, they aren't going to kill anyone." I put the whiteboard up on a table and grabbed a marker. "We're going to fight."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen – Juliet

"Okay, welcome to the Council of War." Justin announced. His face was alive.

Justin was always passionate about something. He was never happy unless he was doing something. Justin Russo was never at rest. I first met him when he was on a mission. I think that's why I was so glad to meet him. I had been with immortals for the last several years, meeting someone who planned in human times was exhilarating. A twenty five minute date was just perfect. He wasn't like anyone else I had ever dated.

Justin's voice was scared, but also so excited. He was dressed back up in the green tuxedo, and he managed to look official in it.

Oh, he was luscious like this. His hand moved across the white board, the marker's strokes outlining the plan. He had just erased the first one.

It's the little things I noticed. Justin always wiped the board entirely clean. He never left a little dab when the rest was good. He needed a clean slate, always.

"Okay, so they will attack at 5 AM, not 12 AM. That changes things." Justin said to our War Council.

"I really don't get that." Alex offered. "If they mean 5 why didn't they just say 5?" Alex's hand moved into the popcorn bowl and removed another mouthful. Gross.

"They were talking about midnight their time. There's a five hour time difference between New York and Phoenix." I explained, again. Max hadn't gotten it either.

Alex just shrugged and took another handful of popcorn.

"So, why are they attacking now? Why didn't they attack when we were out of the picture?" Mason asked. He was sitting next to Alex on the couch. Their hands were intertwined. I didn't like the way Mason touched her. I had seen it before with other men. Once again, it was the little things, the way he bent his body so she was just a bit behind him, the way he held their hands on her leg. We broke up for a reason.

"Well, um, why didn't they attack when you were gone?" Justin asked. His eyes were curious, but there was something else. He was studying me. He didn't smell normally, either. His eyes looked at me in a different way. But I didn't say anything. I could always figure it out later.

"I called in a favor." I explained. "One of the old gods, a girl named Nemesis. She owed me a favor from way back. I cashed it in. They couldn't harm you as long as I couldn't protect you." I moved my hands, trying to make it seem like no big deal.

Mason smiled at me. He knew how I got that favor. He had been there.

"I don't get something." Max never did. He was so cute when he tried though. "If your parents are dead, how were you born?" Okay, that was actually a good question, not that Max understood why. Poor kid, his thinking face was stretched tight.

"Now isn't the time, Max." Justin told him firmly. "Now, why do they want us dead?"

"Well, they blame you for my being destroyed. You know, the whole being turned into a mortal and needing diapers and an IV thing." I smiled just a bit. It was not a happy memory.

"So, why don't we just get the Heck out of here and go to Mars?" Alex asked me. She had eaten the entire popcorn bowl already, and no one else had eaten a single bite.

Justin looked annoyed. I saw him starting to erase the two letters he had written of the third bullet point on the white board.

"Wouldn't work, they can follow us anywhere that has shadows. Every shadow is a door for my father. All darkness is one shadow, from the Outer Night to the shadows of Elysium." I wish I hadn't made it sound so dramatic. Usually I am better at that.

"So why didn't he just pop over here and knock our heads off?" Alex asked. She was eying the doorway. I could see her planning to slip away and get more junk food.

"They will want to prepare. They're nearly starved right now, they don't have enough blood. That's why they're waiting so long to attack. They're going to hunt tonight." I heard Justin gulp behind me. Mason put an arm over Alex's shoulder, being the supportive boyfriend. I hadn't seen a face like Alex's since I told Mordred what I was. And Max had a look, he was thinking about something. Probably something unrelated to the conversation, knowing Max.

Alex had a reply that surprised me, she was thinking ahead. "Will they be bringing any of their monster friends to help kill us?" Justin was looking annoyed as he started erasing another bullet point from his agenda. I just found it so cute.

"No, Father used to have some pull in the Monster World, but most of his old friends are hiding or in Monster Jail. There aren't many people left he can call on, and no one will come quickly enough to help them."

Justin jumped in, probably so Alex wouldn't say another of his bullet points before he brought it up. The Justin and Alex fighting are so cute together!

"How are they going to attack us?" Justin asked, putting a hand up against Alex. "What will they prepare?"

"Well, Mother will make a prophecy at nightfall. She will plan out the full thing then. Father will throw a sleep spell on the block, he will try and get us, but removing meddling humans will prevent the Monster Hunters from hearing about this until too late if we can keep him from making us sleep. Then they will flood the Sub Station, and finally barge in and kill us. That's what they have done before at least."

Justin nodded. "I can keep the sleep spell from working. I have anti-vampire amulets in here." Justin strode across the room, and his fingers went over a neatly labeled cabinet before reaching a drawer and opening it.

I smelled it deep in my throat. That was a whiff of power from Egypt. I hadn't smelled it in a long time. They were talismans made out of the hair of a powerful vampire. They were made out of my hair.

Mason winked at me. Of course he would smell it. He knew my scent too well.

"So, we all wear the amulets. We put up a line of crosses around the sub shop and set anti-vampire traps all around it. We camp out in Max's room and fight them there." Justin announced. He walked back across the room and opened a binder lying next to the white board. He flipped through it with a practiced hand until he reached a plan labeled "vampire attack." It was dated 2007. As the pages flipped by I noticed "centaur attack," "harpy attack" and "pony attack."

"No, we attack them at noon." Max's voice was oddly firm. He startled everyone. Max had a strangely determined look in his eyes.

"Max, it's 3:30." Alex laughed.

"I mean their noon, over in Hippogriff!" Max practically shouted. He seemed more intense than I had ever seen the youngest Russo.

_You mean Phoenix_ I thought, but I had learned to stop correcting people a long time ago, like, Roman Empire long time ago.

"It would put them at a disadvantage. But two of us can only be of use at night." Mason pointed out.

"Actually I have a spell for that." Justin smiled, looking pleased with himself. He ran over and produced a tube of sun block. "I got it after you were taken. It protects vampires from the sun. I was going to give it to you tonight." Justin said excitedly.

"And me?" Mason asked. "You will need me to beat the vampires. You can't kill them without me."

_It's why they bred you, Pure Bred._ I thought at Mason.

"I learned a spell to make werewolves transform in the daytime after I dated Isabella, just in case it came up again." Justin smiled. Justin's eyes were sparkling. He was almost in his happy dance. Mason looked involuntarily impressed. I felt a warm glow. _That's my man._

"Wow, you actually had a good idea." Alex laughed at Max and ruffled his hair. "I like the plan of attacking in the day much better than waiting around to be killed."

Max shook his head. "That's not why we have to attack at before dark." And he looked at me. "We can't let them kill anyone before they attack us.

All of our eyes were on Max now. And our eyes shifted to each other uncomfortably. I knew what they were all thinking. _Why didn't I consider that?_

Max smiled. "Hey, I was smart for once! I need to tell my fiancé."

That is when I heard a thud. Justin had fainted.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen – Alex

"How!" I shouted. Juliet was on the floor, having caught Justin before he was hurt. But right now that was the least of my many troubles.

Max shrugged. "It just sort of happened."

"Just. Sort. Of. Happened." I stared at him disbelieving.

"Well, it was after I freed the guy from the flaming wheel yesterday. He said that I would have his youngest daughter's hand for my service. I was freaked out because I didn't want to eat a girl's hand, but she explained it meant we were getting married when I visited her today."

"A flaming wheel?" Mason asked. He looked more collected than anyone else at the moment, but that wasn't saying much.

"Yeah, after you gave me that cupcake and told me to go bother someone else. So I was bothering this guy, Eddie. He told me to go to Hell. Well, I pulled out my wand and went there. And there was this guy on a flaming wheel, he called himself Ixion. He asked me to free him, so I did. And he put his hand to my head and said "I free you of the mind spell" once we were back in his home."

"Alex? What did you _do_?" Juliet asked me. She was sitting next to Justin on the ground, and her eyes were drilling holes in my head that usually only Justin could dig.

"Um, I kind of forgot that I mind controlled Max yesterday in all the excitement." I admitted.

"You mind controlled your brother?" Mason's face was hard to read, and he and Juliet shared one of their looks. I noticed they kept doing that, I hated it.

"Well, I was operating under the influence of magic marker. It wasn't my fault." I defended myself. "Besides, he freed the guy from Hell. Doesn't that make everyone a winner?"

Juliet shook her head. "Alex, Ixion is a great wicked king, son of the Greek God of War. He was the first human being to murder a relative. He's extremely powerful, freeing him was a very bad thing."

"Hey, he's really nice. I've been visiting him since yesterday, and he has really great food. And I really like Cathy." Max announced. "And the flaming wheel was totally not cool."

"As neat as the whole idea of the Russos getting new in-laws is, we should really get back to saving our lives from our other set of future in-laws." I suggested tentatively. Juliet glared at me for some reason. Oh, Justin had just awakened, and that had knocked him right back out.

"My bad." I waved a hand at Justin and Juliet.

I heard Juliet mutter something, and Justin got up with her help.

"Alex, we need you to go save someone." Justin said, after looking at his white board for the next topic.

"Hello saved half the people in this room." I gestured at Mason and Juliet.

"The Butcher mystic element thing." Justin sighed. "You were paying attention, right?"

"Oh, that. Yeah, I should get right onto that. Right after we fight the evil vampires. I'll put it on my calendar." I looked at my watch.

"Now that's just stupid. You don't have a calendar." Max said it while smiling.

"Alex, you won't have your full magic back until you save a life with it. We can't attack without you." _Darn, he's right._

"So, I guess I'll just go to a hospital and magically heal someone." I popped on a coat, and felt a wave of nausea. Using casual magic wasn't a good idea, yet.

Justin started on a speech and paused. "Actually that should work perfectly."

I smiled. "Cool."

"I'll go with her." Juliet declared.

"Why?" I asked her, slightly unsure of myself. _Where are you going with this?_

"Well, I need blood. A lot of blood, and there aren't many other sources." Juliet looked away from me.

"So, Mason and I will prepare for the attack while Alex and Juliet go off to the hospital." Justin was smiling again. He looked more collected.

"What can I do?" Max asked.

"Maybe you could ask your new father in-law with superpowers to help us?" I suggested.

And Max was gone before I could say it was just a joke.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen – Alex

"Here, I located one, Ned Salisbury. He's currently in Tribecca Children's Hospital. We have an obvious case." Justin smiled and handed me the phone with the number already dialed. I took the phone from Justin and waited as it rang.

"Hello ma'am. Is this Tribecca Children's Hosptital?" I asked the receptionist over the phone.

"Yes it is. Are you calling to make an appointment?" She asked.

That was when I shoved my soul into her through the phone line. A curled up spell inside my soul shuddered, and felt empty without the body and mind. My soul needed me, so it merged with the spell, summoning me into the hospital and rejoining my body. When I was there I waved my wand and Juliet was there, too.

It sounds so much worse than it really is. But the gritty details of spells like that is one of the many reasons I don't like learning spells.

Juliet held the poor woman's head for a moment and muttered a few words in a language I didn't know. Not that I knew any languages, it could have been Spanish for all I know. The woman shook her head.

"Hello. Sorry, I didn't see you come in."

Juliet stared into her eyes again. "Tell me where the nearest dying patient is."

She told us, and we were off. Juliet muttered another word in some language and the receptionist forgot all about us.

"Wow, vampire powers are totally cool." I laughed as we made our way down the hall.

"So are wizard powers." Juliet laughed as we moved.

"Well, my people mostly wiped your people out, so I guess I win." I grinned devilishly, and Juliet shook her head.

"I'm surprised you don't do this more often." She remarked as we went down the hall. She projected some kind of invisibility around us, or something. No one seemed to notice the two girls running down the hall.

"What, break into hospitals? Yeah, I should have done this before." I smiled. I was amazed I hadn't done something like this before.

"I mean heal people, save lives. Use your powers for good." Juliet sounded like she was building up to something. So I decided to burst her bubble.

"Yeah, three of the most powerful beings on the planet really spend their time working in a failing sandwich shop." I rolled my eyes and narrowly dodged a nurse pushing an old man in a wheel chair.

"Don't you?" Juliet leapt over a bed that was out in the hall. Okay, that was freaking cool.

"No one who eats our sandwiches get sick, ever." I laughed. "You didn't know that? One of us puts the spell on the bread every morning before we open up the shop. Well, I don't because I never get up that early. And none of us trust Max to do it. So Justin does it every morning."

"Wow, um, I did not know that." Juliet told me.

"Could we please wait until we are there to finish this conversation? Some of us actually have to breathe." I panted. Juliet thankfully shut up.

Then, we were in the room. A man lay on the bed. I heard rattling breathing. There was a tube in his throat, and other tubes came from his body. Really gross tubes.

"So, heal the guy and let's get on with it. We need to be back in an hour." Juliet seemed strangely insistent.

"Cute, you think the guy's just sick." I laughed. "Juliet, I thought _you_ were the ancient and wise vampire chick."

Juliet looked at me with confusion in her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Juliet, it's easy to cure sick people. No one here is sick." I smiled as I started waving my wand. "He's possessed."

I cast a simple spell to force the spirit to take a form. The man rasped, opening his mouth, and let out a scream of smoke. In the scream was an insectoid face. And it was wearing a cowboy hat.

"Greetings young buckaroos!" Shouted the voice. It was Mr. Laritate's voice.

Juliet looked at me. "Do they normally wear cowboy hats?"

"Yeah, evil spirits always wear cowboy hats. Now let's get on with destroying it already! Don't let the thing talk!" I said hurriedly.

The thing laughed. "I see this bright young filly is a lying little fox."

"Well, yes I am. But _Exit Mundi Salisbury ex Diya…_" I started my spell.

"So, you're going to let this here old sheepdog not know how evil spirits take their forms." The spirit chuckled softly.

"Njan ašāpu gallû Whedon…" I continued my spell, cheeks burning. I _had_ to finish this as soon as possible..

"We old cowpokes take the form of someone who these here gunslingers can't bear to destroy." The Mr. Laritate demon laughed. "In this case, a deep and long held crush." His face shuddered and started changing.

"_Beleth el-Xeelee Estoppel a__ḫ__ abi!_" I finished, my spell striking with full force, severing the spirit from the victim.

The creature, half insect and half human, stepped daintily off of the man and stood up to an impressive height.

"Nice meeting you Russo, but I really need to be off. Things to see, people to do." The devil laughed and rushed me. A monster with the strength of a charging bull slammed into me.

Good thing I was ready. Underneath my shirt was a coin Justin had given me. The demon screamed, but it was inside me now.

"Juliet, keep me down!" I shouted.

"Freeze!" She told me, and I couldn't move anything except for my eyes. "You really should have told me your plan first. You scared me like that." Juliet told me. She started studying me. "So, what do I do now?"

_You can read my mind, right? Please tell me you can read my mind. Can't vampires read minds? That has to be a classic vampire ability._

_**Such a tasty little mind you have in here. Nice to meet you, little Baryonic Lady.**_ The cold mind of the demon was inside my head. Up close it did not feel human at all. It was dark and cold, a predator who had hunted generations of humanity.

_What is a Baryonic Lady?_

_**Oh, just ask your brother, if you survive this. I can see there isn't exactly much to eat in here.**_ The creature sighed. Then it started to feed. I felt the sickness start to grow inside me. Mortals called it cancer.

Juliet stood their awkwardly. "Okay, I need to know. Alex, tell me what to do." Juliet waved her hand and I could speak.

"Not freeze my mouth when I tell you to freeze me next time!" I shouted. This was way too close. I started my spell, forcing the evil spirit into the coin. Justin had some big explanation for why I could beat the demon into the coin. I think he also might have some something about Baryons too. I just know I defeated the demon and the day was saved. Yay me!

And I was alone with the woman I had saved.

We looked at each other.

"I'm sorry." I looked away. I bit my lip, worried.

"About what?" Juliet asked me. She looked confused.

"For causing, well, all of this." This was hard, but I wasn't sure if I would be alone with her again for a long time.

"Alex, you saved my life. What do you have to be sorry about?" She put her hand on my shoulder.

"Because I caused it!" I shouted. "It's my fault, all of it! I did it. I brought Mason back to Transylvania, I cared more about the stupid necklace than anything else, and I couldn't even think of a spell to help, I just threw the stupid wand because I panicked."

And Juliet did the one thing I would never have expected. She laughed.

"_Your_ fault? Alex, you're the last person I would blame. I followed you to Transylvania, and I chose to fight for Justin. Justin brought me back to Transylvania. Well, we both didn't want to leave each other. We had just found each other again. It was Mason who lost control. It was Max's idea to let Mason back in." Juliet sighed and hugged me. "You did all this because you thought it was your fault?"

The hug, it was uncomfortable. Juliet's shirt was tight and thin, I had chosen it to make Justin uncomfortable, the dork. And then there was that she was all cold, I shivered. And I couldn't move my arms, making her kind of jab into me in places. And she was hard. It's kind of hard to explain. But I was glad when it was over.

"Oh, just let me move my legs again, please." I snapped at her. I didn't like this. The whole thing, it made me feel helpless. And I do not like feeling helpless.

"Okay, move." And I could. "Now, I need to eat." And I followed Juliet down the hallway. She kept her field of whatever invisibility up, and no one noticed us as we moved.

"What was that demon going on about?" Juliet asked me as we walked briskly. I was weakened by the demon fight. I couldn't run yet.

"Nobody, it was no one!" I said, perhaps a bit too firmly.

"Oh. I just thought it would have taken Justin's voice." Juliet remarked.

"No, you don't think I can hurt the dork?" I laughed.

"Don't worry. Crushing on an older guy is perfectly normal." Juliet sounded accepting. Darn, she was always so sweet. It got on my nerves. Wow, she really was perfect for Justin.

_She doesn't know the cowboy. Crushing on Mr. Laritate is not normal._ So I decided to shoot back. "Says the 2000 year old woman dating a teenager."

"Alex, it doesn't work like that." Juliet opened the door, and we entered a cold room. It was like a walk in fridge, for organs. Juliet started sniffing.

"How does it not work that way? Did you join NAMBLA or something?" I asked her. I leaned against a wall. I felt like being bitchy right now.

"Eww, no." Juliet shook her head. "But vampires age differently. I have been around a really long time, but I spent all that time as a child. We aren't adults until our fangs come in. That doesn't happen until we fall in love. Until then we need our parents to hunt for us, we can't breed, we still have teenage brains. Believe me, being a teenager for 2000 years is horrible." Juliet had found a bag of blood, and she started sucking it dry.

I didn't really have a response for her, so I was quiet and watched her feed.

_Gosh this is so gross._ I snapped a picture with my cell phone. I liked the idea of showing Justin this.

"Please don't do that." Juliet asked me, before returning to her meal. She slurped and dug in. I was amazed that so much blood could fit into her belly.

After about twenty minutes she was done, there wasn't any more blood in the room. And Juliet looked very happy as she cleaned herself off with wet wipes.

"Would you mind refilling and cleaning up these blood bags?" Juliet asked me, waving her hand at the whole mess. I did so pretty casually. But now there was something at the back of my mind.

"We're wizards, we can just make blood. Why did you need to come here to eat? Couldn't we have just made you like a ton of blood?" I asked her.

"Not the kind that matters. This is good enough for a human, but I eat other things that the blood carries. I feed on the bits of soul, emotion, that sort of thing. This will work for them, but I wouldn't gain any power from it." Juliet shrugged. "Besides, willing donations are really tasty."

I shook my head. "Can we flash back now?"

Juliet checked her watch. "We should, we have half an hour before we move out."

I waved my wand, and I felt the point I had prepared inside my house. I flashed us back to the Sub Shop.

And that's when chaos ensued.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen – Justin

I was content. I had the battle plan written, the weapons prepared, and my spells tested. I was especially proud of what I had done to Mason. He stood in front of me, clad in armor I had created that could withstand even Alucard and Cindy's blows. Over his shoulder was an AK-47 with blessed bullets that could harm the vampires. At his side was a sword blessed by a Pope, long ago. I felt I had done a good job outfitting the werewolf soldier.

And now it was time to test my own defenses. "_Hair all frizzy, don't have a tizzy, thin lizzy!_" And I moved across the room. It was my favorite spell, my five thousandth. I knew it would be vital for the upcoming battle.

"I see why the Wizards Council rules the world. The Thin Man spell is truly a force to make the Creatures of the Night tremble in sheer terror." Mason had chosen dry British wit. I wished I had put the visor firmly down when I had dressed him.

"The Thin Man spell is an extremely powerful and extremely difficult piece of magic. It involves-" And I was cut off by Max entering the Lair with an entourage of centaurs.

"I talked with my future father in-law. He couldn't help us himself, but he did give me an army of centaurs to help." Max looked very pleased with himself as the army of half horse soldiers entered our Lair through the portal.

"Do you realize that centaurs would be destroyed fighting vampires on the Van Heusen's level?" Mason asked as more and more centaurs entered the Lair.

"I did not." Max started studying a wall panel.

We were silent for a minute as the army entered the Lair and moved out into the sub shop.

"Max, how many centaurs did you get?" I asked him.

"Forty." Max told me.

I sat down and considered what to do with our useless army.

"Just so you know, centaurs have a tendency of getting very aggressive when they sit around with nothing to do." Mason told me. He rested on the couch.

"I know that! I did date one. Why do you think we broke up?" Mason was really getting on my nerves lately.

"You dated a centaur?" Mason chucked. "How does that work, exactly?"

"It didn't." I looked out at the centaurs. The stood around, looking uncomfortable. "Mason, is there any way they could be useful fighting the Van Heusens?" I asked.

"Whenever I have seen centaurs fight level six monsters, they die." Mason told me. "They're level three monsters. They are fine as far as they go, but not challenging the Lamia or any of the True Nosferatu."

_Gosh darn it, now I need to ask him what the Lamia is. How does he know more about this then I do? I'm the monster hunter._

I gritted my teeth and swallowed my pride. "Mason, what is the Lamia? What do you know about Juliet's parents that I don't?"

Mason had a crooked smile on his face. "The Lamia is Cindy. She's an ancient child eating demon created by Hera. She is one of the countless adulteries of Zeus who suffered for the crime of falling to the charms of a God."

"That's Juliet's mother?" I swallowed. That was a lot to take in.

"Oh, her father is just as awful. He is the son of one of the oldest vampires, a monster that walked when man was weak and crude. He was bound to serve in Egypt's armies by the magicians of Egypt. They made many such deals as the Roman Empire first rose and began to conquer the world. That fading dynasty never gathered the power it once wielded. That was how Juliet was born. Alucard and Lamia met in Egypt, and the two mated, spawning Juliet and her siblings."

"Juliet has siblings?" I had never thought of that.

"She had a hundred." Mason smiled at me. There was hardness in his voice.

"Wow, really? I guess I'll meet them later on." I smiled. I liked the idea.

"They're gone, Justin." Mason sighed. "At least most of them are."

"What happened to them?" I asked.

"I ate two of them. That's how I met Juliet. Others were cast into Monster Jail, never to return. Some ran afoul of creatures worse than mere vampires."

"You destroyed Juliet's siblings?" I edged away from him.

"I'm a werewolf. Your kind made us to hunt and kill vampires. Packs of my species have hunted the vampires since before we were created. We were brought back from the future for ancient battles by the Wizards Council. Yes, I destroyed two of Juliet's sisters. I did battle with Japan in Nanking, letting the innocent to flee in the dead of night. I hunted mercenary captains in the Thirty Years War, nursed the wounded in your Revolution, and suffered in the trenches of the First World War." Mason laughed. "I have done this before, Justin Russo. I know how to kill vampires."

I sat there, stunned. And then the horror hit me. _Mason's an adult, he's done more in his life than I can dream of. And he has his hands on my sister!_

But there was no time to act on that. I heard screams from outside the Lair, and Mason and I were on our feet and rushing out.

"Let go of me!" Harper shouted. She had come back, and the centaurs did not look happy about it.

"What exactly is going on?" I asked Harper and the centaurs. The centaurs looked down. Mason sighed.

"Don't let these creatures go unsupervised. I have seen them in action before. They are great in the right fight, but I have seen what they do when the fight is over." Mason grimaced.

Alex and Juliet came out of the Lair. Juliet looked fresh, exhilarated. Alex looked annoyed.

"Why do we have an army of centaurs in our Lair?" Alex asked me.

"Max brought them to help." I explained. "The problem is they are no help at all, and are hard to control and prone to doing very bad things I don't really feel comfortable discussing."

Alex looked around. "That actually explains a lot. Do you know why Max is wearing a wedding dress?"

"No." I sighed. _I really don't want to know._


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty – Harper

"She said you would know what it meant, the Wigner Maneuver." Justin practically danced when he heard that.

"Yes!" He pumped a fist in the air. "So, what did she give you?"

I beamed, and handed him the box the old woman had given me. "I don't know. She said she couldn't tell me, but she said the box had everything you needed in it." Justin looked so happy. I almost never saw him so ecstatic, and it was all because of _me_.

Justin placed the box on the table and opened it. Alex leaned over his shoulder. "Underwear? Presents from the future are really lame, aren't they?"

"The future? Why didn't anyone tell me that this was from the future?" I asked Alex. I leaned over Justin's shoulder as well to examine the contents of the box. I was happy to rest myself on Justin's strong masculine shoulder.

"Well, these are obviously top secret wizard weapons." Justin held the purple underwear with two fingers as he pulled it out of the box. "Besides, this is the really important part." He pulled out a note. "Put on the glasses." He read.

"Justin? I think the future is kind of stiffing us on the whole 'magic weapons' thing." Alex laughed, using air quotes around the words magic weapons.

"I am still confused about the whole 'future sending back magic weapons' thing. Why is the future sending you magic weapons? And why didn't anyone tell me about this?" Living with wizards was so darn confusing.

"It's a very common strategy." Justin explained. "You send back tools or information to yourself after you win, enabling you to win and have the resources to send back the tools or information. It closes a stable time loop."

"Isn't that like, a time paradox?" I asked. "And why don't you do it all the time?"

"Because time travel is a huge amount of work and really dangerous. It didn't go too well when I tried it." Alex laughed. "Oh, you do _not_ want to know what happened when I tried it."

"I told you that the Photino Birds would infest the sun." Justin looked irritated at the memory. "But no, you just had to send back the test answers to you a year ago. The Monster Hunters Council is still negotiating the Anti-Xeelee about getting our sun back."

"You lost the sun?" I stared at Alex.

"We'll get it back. It just, isn't owned by us right now. See, sun still shines down on us!" Alex waved her hand at the boarded up windows of the Sub Station.

The more I knew about the magic world, the more I wished I hadn't found out at all.

"So that's why I sent her back, to save the future." Justin looked out the window. "I gave myself _two_ missions from the future. Yes!"

"What, it could have been me who sent her back. That Wizard Competition is still open!" Alex sounded nervous. Justin shook his head, but didn't respond.

"Could we please get on with opening the package? We only have 15 minutes before we attack." Mason asked Justin. Justin sighed and looked through it.

"Wait, does this mean that we're immortal because we sent this stuff back?" Max announced. He had a gleam in his eye. "Because I can't wait to jump off the Empire State Building!"

"Max, it doesn't work like that. Time travel erases the timeline that sent us back. That's the whole point of Wigner style time travel. You can erase mistakes made in the past. Just because we have this stuff doesn't mean that we're going to win. It just means that we won in one draft of the timeline. And history is always being rewritten. The first time this happened could have been very different. She was sent back a long time ago, she would have caused serious ripples by now. "Justin helpfully exposited.

"Yeah, I think it is pretty certain that things have been changed a lot." Alex pulled out a package labeled 'for T.J.'

Justin dug into the box again. "Okay, this is for the prettiest girl in the room." Justin announced with a smile.

"Ooh, oh, let me have it!" I waved my arms as I tried to grab it from Justin. _Yes! He finally acknowledged what's going on between us! And right in front of Juliet, showing the world his true soul mate!_

"I was talking about Juliet." Justin told me through clenched teeth. He handed the package to Juliet. Now I saw an attached note 'For Juliet' on it.

"Darn it!" I started to pout.

Juliet read the rest out loud. "This is a peace offering. Sorry I put you through all of that. We were all young once, even you." Juliet looked curiously at Justin.

"I'll explain later." Justin winked at her. Juliet shrugged, and a moment later she was out of sight. A moment after that a neat pile of clothes formed on the floor and Justin looked very uncomfortable. Seconds later Juliet returned to view, clad in a green outfit of spandex. It looked kind of like a military or superhero uniform. I guess it leaned towards the later, as a badge with the letters 'EMCSA' were embroidered on the chest pocket. My eyes moved over the rest rapidly. The boots were a shad of dark green, the thing had pockets and shoulder pads that made the whole thing look slightly Liefeldian. Justin made a little gasp, and he grinned wide. "Juliet, you're breathtaking."

Juliet made a little squeal at that, and Alex rolled her eyes at the same time that Mason did. But I smiled. For some reason I had a feeling I liked whoever had made the outfit. I wondered if anyone else would ever get the subtle burn on Juliet.

Justin returned to the box. "Okay, for Alex there is, nothing!" Justin smiled a bit. "Oh, besides a note."

"Give me that." Alex grabbed it from Justin and read it out loud. "Alex, I know you can do this. Just do what you do best. Cheat. You know the way." Alex nodded. "Yeah, I get it. Darn it, I was hoping to save that one."

"What were you planning to save?" Mason asked her. "Do you have a little surprise for us?"

Alex grinned almost savagely. "You bet I do. I don't think anyone will be expecting that."

"Shouldn't you tell us what it is?" Justin asked. He struck a dramatic pose that took my breath away as he put on the glasses in the box. Then he frowned. "The glasses say do not ask Alex to reveal her secret move." Justin looked annoyed. He was always so cute when he was mad.

"Oh, I remember these. Those are glasses that tell you what to do right before it's time. I remember I tried them for the test answers so the teacher wouldn't know." Alex smiled.

"What you remember is weird. But yes, that is technically what they do." Justin smiled. He looked so cute and dorky with those glasses.

And then they organized to move out. The suited up, changing clothing. No one explained why Max had to change out of a wedding dress. Mason in his armor, Juliet in her new costume, Justin and Alex and Max clad in purple and black outfits of spandex that I hadn't seen before. They were weighed down with different charms and strange looking devices I had never seen before. They filed into their Lair and waved goodbye.

I hugged Alex goodbye. "Please come home safely." I whispered into her ear.

"I will." Alex promised me. "And I will make sure the dork gets back too."

"Feel free to leave Juliet." I whispered into her ear.

"After all the trouble I went through to bring her back the first time? I am _not_ ripping my soul again to bring the girl back. I am not letting her die either." Alex laughed at me. "Now step back."

I waved goodbye to the team, and they announced it together. "I.P.P. Phoenix!" And they disappeared.

I sat down. I felt empty, worried, and sick. What would happen if they were gone? I needed Alex. I needed Justin. I even needed Max. There was a reason I put up with Alex, she was my sister in every way that mattered. The Russos had adopted me, first in spirit and now I even lived with them. I didn't know if I could go on without Alex by my side. Justin, I needed him too. It wasn't just that I loved him. He was my brother, too. He helped me in his own way. I couldn't bare the idea of losing Max, either.

At least H.J Darling had let me help. I felt like I mattered today. I felt like I had done something. Maybe the future would save us, after all.

Then I looked at the orphaned package with the words 'for TJ' written on it. And I felt sick all over again.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty One – Third Person

The Wizards of Waverly Place arrived in Phoenix, Arizona like something out of Star Trek. The team hit the ground running, casting their spells.

Juliet sighed for a moment, her eyes resting on the sun. She felt the warmth on her skin, feeling the treasured protection of the magic potion. But there was no time for that. She has her parents to eat.

Mason sniffed along the ground. Inside the armor was a full grown werewolf. His senses were heightened as he led the group forward in secret. After half a minute he pointed his blade at a house. "There. The Van Heusens are in there."

Justin laughed, and cast the Thin Man spell. He felt the weight of the golden charms on his neck and wrists, and he could not help but smile. Everything was going according to plan. Then his glasses flashed his first instructions.

"Alex, it's time."

Alex laughed, and closed her eyes. Alex cheats. She always cheats. And she had learned the true nature of her family's wizard competition. Would you expect any less of her than to sit down and plan exactly how to mess up her brothers when that moment finally came?

Alex exploded into a tornado. She fired down the street, her mind filled with a pure joy that few ever experience. It was like running. The most intense running you will ever feel. But combine that with an orgasm, your whole body feeling an orgasm. But better, because you're not distracted. You aren't lost in the moment. You are in control, even though it feels so good. It's _so easy_ to direct this storm, to send yourself straight at the house of the monsters, ripping the entire house apart with a single thought.

Max waited invisible. He had his orders, and his own role to play. Max could wait.

Alucard raged. His home was destroyed, and he was under attack. The light blazed down on him. It was the light of the Unconquered Sun. It was his bane, his curse, his control. And Alucard called out to the creatures of the night, those beings that had no more love of the sun than he did.

A massive cloud of bats emerged from the shadows, rising up and blocking out the sun. And Alucard rose, ready to unleash his wrath on Alex Russo. And then the bullets struck him. Blessed ammunition tore into his flesh. Alucard staggered, but you do not become the Lord of Night and Shadows by letting the White God destroy you that easily. Alucard let loose a command, and a bat fell under his twisted power, smashing into the gun.

That is when Justin let loose a beam of pure concentrated sunlight from a charm around his wrist. Justin smiled as he levitated through his sister's destructive winds, making his way towards the vampire.

Meanwhile, Cindy, the Dread Lamia, was dealing with her own daughter. The two whirled about, far too fast for the human eye to see. As they battled they talked in their old language. It was older than they were. The language Justin had learned under the name "Alien."

"**Oh, my poor whore of a daughter has come to eat me."** Cindy laughed. **"It would be an ironic end to my long legacy."**

"**That it would, Mother of Vampires. I have wanted to do this since I was a little girl."** Juliet had a terrible grin on her face as she danced inches away from her mother. Neither one let the other touch her as both tried their damned hardest to inflict pain on the other.

The two Ladies of the Night were in battle form. Juliet had always favored the bat. She used the mass to shield herself and move through the air. Cindy's form was less animalistic. She extended her limbs, giving her vastly superior reach. Cindy's hands had become claws, letting her touch rend her daughter.

"**You always go back to whoring. Cesar, Mordred, Mason, and now a Wizard Childe. You aren't exactly unpredictable."** The Lamia cackled as she drew her daughter's blood.

"**If I must be a whore, I will damn well whore myself to a hero."** Juliet announced. Cindy was struck by the next round of ammunition. It had taken Mason only a second to clean his gun of guts and blood, but at the speeds vampires dance it had been an eternity. Juliet was bleeding from a dozen claw gashes that her mother had inflicted on her. Marks of her strategy of keeping Cindy within a clear shot of Mason's AK-47.

**"A hero? What has the Childe done with his life besides clean up his sister's messes? It is Alex who will win that competition. You will be left nursing a bitter and dying wizard as his sister burns the world for us."** Cindy moved through her daughter's mind. She tore at her fears, and she knew how to dodge Juliet's every strike. Cindy was suffering, though. She was in a metaphorical corner. In order to dodge Mason's blessed bullets she had to avoid his targeting area. Now Juliet's defensive strategy had paid off. Cindy could not get in a strike through Juliet's superior mobility and wings without being damaged by Mason's bullets.

In those seconds Justin had crossed the space between himself and Alucard. Justin unleashed another blast from the charm. Alucard could not have the Childe harm him so, and he unleashed his wrath. In a single strike Alucard struck Justin in the heart, running his hand into the boy.

And Alucard screamed, recoiling from the strike. Justin felt satisfied.

The Thin Man spell was an incredibly dangerous and complex piece of magic. The spell allowed Justin to manipulate his form as he wished, to a point. And Justin had buried a cross where his heart should be. It was a mere annoyance to him when Alucard struck, and the splinters of the holy wood were buried deep in Alucard's hand. He had lost all use of it. And while Alucard recoiled from the blow, Justin unleashed a third bolt of pure concentrated sunlight at the old beast.

Alucard unleashed a dozen blows. Justin was torn to shreds. His pieces fell about the room. Justin was pulling himself back together at once, levitating forth, kept from any real damage by the thin man spell. But Justin would be too late to save Alex from Alucard's wrath.

Alucard rose up into the tornado. Inside the tornado he suffered again. Pieces of blessed wood were inside Alex, too. Alucard screamed in rage as it struck him, tearing his flesh further. But Alucard made his way into the center of the tornado, into the eye. And he saw Alex's one weakness inside of it. Floating there was Alex's wand. It was the easiest thing in the world for Alucard to snap it in half.

Cindy had been forced out into street as Mason Greyback had joined the fight. Juliet and Mason had managed to wedge her first, and then Mason had charged. Cindy could not afford to let Mason's claws scratch her flesh, so she ceded ground to the pair. Cindy _knew_ Mason's strategies. She had survived his tactics before. And the Lamia was older than either of them, and has spent far more of her life fighting than Juliet had. Cindy was not worried.

But neither Cindy nor Alucard had factored in Max. Why should they? They had barely even met Max. He had been a child in the background, running around clad in pumpkin guts. They hardly realized that another powerful wizard lived among the Russos. Now Cindy was in the open, and Alucard stood proud among his bats as Alex's tornado collapsed. And Max Russo cast his spell, banishing the bats to Paris, Texas.

The light of the sun shone brightly on Alucard and Cindy at once. The two screamed together, and their screams mixed as one in their destroyed house. Juliet smashed her body into her mother while Mason flung himself in between Alucard and the basement, the closest shelter from the merciless sun.

Cindy made it. She carried half of Juliet's face with her into the basement, and Juliet screamed from the pain, and from losing the enchanted sun block on that piece of her skin. Juliet's face burned terribly until she cast her long hair over it, extinguishing the danger, though not the agony.

Alucard did not make it. He was engulfed in flame as the Purebred werewolf struck him. Alucard did manage to blow past him, but he did not manage to avoid Mason's claws, or a terrible blow from his sword.

Alucard smashed into the basement. He was dying. Truly dying as his life bled back into him from Mason's claws, and out of him through his wounds. Cindy took a look at her mate of 2000 years, let out an anguished howl, and dug her teeth into his neck. She drank deeply, consuming her husband, letting his strength flow into her damaged and weakened flesh. It only took a second. Alucard had no soul, but he had power. And that is what she needed right now.

Cindy looked out at her ruined home, and her enemies. Mason was still fresh and strong. Justin was rapidly recombining, and Max hadn't suffered so much as a bug bite.

Alex was in worse condition. She had no wand, and no power that could harm a beast of the Lamia's strength. Juliet was in somewhat better condition, but she was missing her depth perception and in horrible pain.

Words flashed in Justin's glasses as soon as he reassembled, a mere instant later. 'Send TJ to save Alex. Everyone else, destroy Alucard.'

Justin muttered a curse. A real one, he threw it at Cindy before waving his hands. Everyone else attacked the Mother of Vampires, while Justin attended his damaged sister.

Max was down nearly at once. Cindy threw a bench at him, causing him to go down. He was up seconds later, but by then the fight was over.

The strength of the Lamia would not have been enough to break Mason's armor. But it was no longer just the strength of Cindy Van Heusen. She had her husband's strength inside her. And she had pulled a sword from a rack in her basement, one made of silver. She crossed blades with Mason as Juliet attacked in a lop sided gate, throwing herself into the unstable fray.

Cindy laughed as Juliet attacked. What a silly girl, she would be Mason's doom. Cindy grabbed Juliet's hand in a swift motion, and wrapped Juliet's hand about the sword, bending it backwards. The bones snapped as Cindy smashed the silver sword through Mason's armor, into his heart. Only silver wielded by someone who loves you can kill a Purebred werewolf.

Juliet didn't have enough of a face left to smile as she waved her remaining hand. It was a simple thing, really. She couldn't have let it be in the unshielded minds of her friends. She had needed to bury it deep to keep her mother from noticing. But she had Justin's blood inside her. And through Justin's blood, a trace of Justin's magic.

She didn't need much. They were already locked in an embrace. Cindy couldn't escape the simple push of Mason's claws into her skin.

She struggled of course, trying to push the claws into Juliet, struggling to bite through Mason's armor, but her powers were fading, and Juliet had more powers than those of a mere vampire. Juliet overcame her, pushing her against the wall of the basement. And Juliet smelled the blood, and did what she had come there to do.

Juliet bit into her mother's neck, and feasted on the power of her mother and father, all mixed into one. In her act of matricide she ate all that her mother was. A monster, a monster who had done the same act to her own children, a creature who had killed and eaten children for millennia with a license granted by the goddess of marriage.

Juliet felt her mother go still, and let her go. She licked her lips, feeling the last traces of the salty blood wash down her throat.

Justin walked besides Max, their sun amulet arms outstretched, as they entered the basement. They looked around. Mason was lying on the ground, a sword in his chest. Alucard and Cindy were dead. And Juliet looked every inch a monster.

Juliet sighed, and crossed the basement to Mason she looked down at him. And she pulled the sword out of his chest.

The bewildered Mason looked up at her, unbelieving.

"Mason, I don't love you, at _all_." Juliet whispered down to him. And she beckoned towards the brothers. "It's safe. They're dead."

Justin and Max advanced, and Alex stalked in behind them, looking just as beaten as you would expect from a girl who had unleashed incredible magic and survived a twenty foot fall.

"Is it over?" Alex asked, sounding much smaller than she intended to.

"Yes, it is over Alex." Justin laughed. He whooped. Soon the whole destroyed basement was full of celebration. They entered into a group hug, and collapsed in a heap of wizard and werewolf and vampire and armor and magic and blood.

"Can we go home now?" Max asked. Justin nodded.

"Yes, we can go home." They teleported back through the I.P.P.

And a face full of absolute righteous fury was waiting for them.

"WHAT THE HELL GOING ON!" Jerry shouted.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty Two – Justin

I sighed as my father and I hefted Mason onto my bed. The guy was far too heavy for his size. Well, he was the last of them. Alex and Max were in their bedrooms, and Juliet was crashing on Harper's bed in the basement.

Soon we headed back to the Lair, and I pointed to the list of injuries. "Alex has a sprained ankle. Mason is fine except for the sword through the heart. Werewolf healing factor repaired everything but the silver, and even that can't kill him. Max has broken ribs. I healed everything using the Thin Man spell."

"Yes, Justin. We can all read the white board just fine." Dad gestured to the white board. "You still haven't explained _this_." And he brought up an envelope. I had a sinking feeling.

"What does it say?" I asked him.

"It is a wedding invitation. _Max's_ wedding invitation. Since when has Max been engaged?" Dad's voice was just barely under control now.

"He got engaged yesterday. Those centaurs are the bride's family." I gestured around to the centaurs. They were chewing on various vegetarian sandwiches that they had started making while we were gone. It seemed that none of them spoke English, and they had just kind of taken over the Sub Shop as they waited around for further instructions.

"Max's girlfriend is half horse?" Dad had this way of looking mad without having to unleash his anger. At least when Alex wasn't involved.

"Yes. Max said he really likes her. And centaur girls can make wonderful dates." I offered. Dad did not look convinced.

"She's half horse. How exactly is that going to, you know?" Dad made a gesture with his fingers I did not understand. I just looked forward. "I mean, you know, with the horse half, and…" Dad made more strange hand gestures, obviously trying to convey something. "Sex!" He finally got out. I fell back against a table desk, a look of disgust on my face.

"Dad!" I shuddered.

With my Dad's help I managed to sit down in a chair. Dad sighed, and flipped on the news. We cut to footage of a freak tornado and a cloud of bats in Phoenix.

"Let me guess. Alex put you up to this." Dad asked me.

"She started it, but that wasn't her fault. We needed to attack Juliet's parents before they started killing people to get enough power to kill us. We didn't have a choice." I looked around the Lair. The centaurs looked back at me curiously.

"The Wizards Council will be stepping in." Dad's voice was suddenly serious. "You know that, right? They can't let something so public and magical go unpunished. They will need to be seen doing something."

"I know. But I couldn't let the Van Heusens kill people to get to us. None of us could." I felt sick though. I didn't know what to do next.

"Well, do you want me to block our portal? Keep them from getting in so easily?" Dad asked me. A look of concern was on his face.

"Yeah. We need to think of something later." I looked around. I needed to think. But first I needed to sleep. We had a long night ahead of us. I couldn't plan right after a fight like this. So I slept, and I had dreams of Juliet's broken face, stained with her mother's blood.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty Three – Mason

I woke up to Harper's face. Not the most welcoming face I could imagine, but at least she wasn't a threat. I met her disturbing gaze for several seconds. It was unreadable.

"What exactly are your intentions towards Alex?" Harper asked me, her voice powerful and demanding. I just had to stare. Of all the people to give me this talk, she was the last one I had expected. She had two brothers and a father. I didn't expect this girl to do it.

"What do you mean by intentions?" I asked her carefully. Harper looked flustered now.

"Well, you love her. Magic glowing necklace means we know that. But, what are you planning? Are you going to marry her? Date her? Have kids with her? Turn her into a werewolf?" I sat there, wishing that she had started this conversation when I didn't have my heart ripped out and slowly growing back.

"I never really thought that far ahead. Kind of comes with being turned into a wolf a week after you start dating a girl." I felt my chest. The wound was barely there by now. "What time is it?"

"You slept through the night. All of you did, including Justin. Poor baby, he was so tired from all the magic he used." Harper's tone of voice switched from harsh to sickeningly sweet.

I sighed. "You do realize that he has a girlfriend, right?" I asked her slowly. I wasn't sure how the weird girl would react. She did appear to be in a Battle Diva costume. _Best not to correct her about magic, it doesn't tire you out like that._

"Oh, she'll chicken out when she realizes what she has gotten herself into. But old steady's going to stay this course." Harper winked at me. God's Brother she was strange. "That is why I am having this conversation with you."

"Harper, you did notice that she died for him, right? And I came close for Alex. What exactly hasn't she realized that goes beyond that?" And Harper laughed.

"I don't think either of you get that you wouldn't just be marrying Alex or Justin. You're marrying both of them." I started to wonder just how mentally unwell she was. "I know that if I'm walking down the aisle with Justin I might as well have Alex walking with me." _You have weird sexual fantasies, girl._ Of course I didn't say that.

"I'm pretty sure Alex is straight. Not so sure about her brother." _Seriously, still plays with dolls at his age?_

"I wouldn't be so sure about Alex. I'm pretty sure she's eyed _this_ in the locker room a couple of times." Harper gestured to herself, and I felt like groaning again. _Of all the things I could be doing right now, I'm listening to this!_ "But that's not what I meant. And this is really important. No one means more to Alex than Justin does. No one means more to Justin than Alex. I don't think you get that, either of you." I considered her strange statement.

"He told me that he cared more about Juliet than his sister. In Transylvania, right before the whole unpleasantness started."

"Well, she was right there, wasn't she? They always do that to each other." Harper smiled as I waited for her to keep explaining. "I've known them for a long time. They're my family, my real family, and that's why I'm here. I don't want Alex's heart to break again. You and Justin don't like each other. And I need to tell you that you can't keep fighting. You're going to break Alex's heart if you do." _Hell, she's insane, but she's onto something._ I could hear the certainty in her voice. And I knew that Harper was Alex's oldest and closest friend.

"So, you're saying that we will break up if I keep fighting with her brother?" I asked Harper, hoping for confirmation. She was just weird enough that she might be attempting to make a completely different point than what I was getting out of her statements. I was not disappointed.

"No, she'll leave Justin, and never forgive herself for it." Harper patted my hand and smiled at me.

"That's all well and good, but I am not sure if you're the right person to listen to on relationship advice." I said as tactfully as I could with my mind on the throbs of agonizing pain that came from my healing chest.

"What do you mean?" Harper grinned at me, seeming not to get what I meant.

"Well, haven't you spent most of your life stalking a boy who has shown very little interest in you?" I was worried now. I had seen what the girl did to Justin's suit when the topic of Juliet came up.

"Oh, it isn't like _that_." The emphasis to the last word was slightly frightening. "He's never going to find another girl who will accept all his baggage. He just hasn't realized it yet. And he's always been there for me, when it really counts. They all have, all the Russos. Justin taught me how to ride a bike. He was there when my dad left. Mrs. Russo taught me how to cook. I know them better than anyone else can."

"There are other wizard girls out there, and wizards typically marry into other magical races." I pointed out. "I am kind of an example of that, and Juliet is another."

"Oh, it's not just the wizard thing. It's the Alex thing, and the Max thing, even the Kelbo thing." Harper laughed. "He's always going to be off saving them. He's going to do it for the rest of his life, no matter what else happens. And Juliet won't like it. Those two have been going all morning about how wonderful it is to be together again and how glad she is to have him now that her parents are dead." Harper shook her head with a faint smile on her lips. "She died for him, and she killed for him. She is not going to like it when he is getting Alex out of a jail cell at 3 AM in ten years." And I just had to shake my head at the poor girl.

"Harper, you don't know Juliet, at all. She wouldn't love him if he would do anything less than that for his little sister." I just couldn't help smiling. "People are more complicated than that. And I know Juliet, and I know her family. If there's anything Juliet understands its family responsibilities.

**Author's Note:** This chapter was beta read by julibethlovr. Not Just a Nerd is currently busy with her own academics and was unable to act as a beta reader. I sincerely thank julibethlovr for her assistance. Otherwise this would not have been published until Thursday. My best wishes are with Not Just a Nerd, I hope her exam results are as excellent as her beta reading and writing has been.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty Four - Harper

"What do you mean? What family responsibilities?" I asked Mason.

"Harper, she's the seventh daughter of a family of one hundred and eight. She helped raise most of the monsters that stalked this world." Mason sighed. He did not look well. At least he was human this time.

I sat there, thinking for a moment. Finally, I spoke. This was the speech I had rehearsed earlier in the mirror, before Mason got me sidetracked. Well half of it, anyway. "Why is she dating Justin? She's old. She's really old. She's powerful. She has to have known a lot of smart guys, nice guys, cute guys, brave guys, over the years. Why Justin? What is it about him that makes her want to date a human?"

"Harper, they aren't human." Mason looked suddenly tired. "They're wizards, mongrels from Phaeacia bred with fairies and incubi and deities and all kinds of strange beings. Justin isn't human, at least not like you think."

"Wait, Justin's from the _Odyssey_?" I thought back. I was in theater, after all. "The guys who brought Odysseus home after his voyage?

"Wow. You actually know about that?" Mason shook his head, looking confused. "And he's a distant descendent of those people. Modern wizards trace themselves back to that civilization, though more of their blood comes from mortals than anything else."

"His mother is human. And he dates humans. He seems really human."

"He lied to you for your whole life. You brought up all the times with Russos were your family. But they weren't. They didn't tell you what they were. Their secrets make them different, as do their powers." Mason looked tired again. "But that's why Juliet would go to Justin. She's seen mortals with uncommon courage, intelligence, compassion, and good looks. But she hasn't seen so many wizards like that. She's a teenager. She doesn't want to nurse an old man on his death bed when she's still in the full flush of her eternal youth. She's met some great men in her time, but they were just men. Justin's a wizard."

And I stormed out of the room. I felt angry again. The tramp came in and ruined everything. Justin would be lost to the girl who didn't know him, couldn't know him, who didn't deserve him. I had watched him almost as long as I could remember.

And Justin was human. _He has to be human_! The Russos were human, weren't they? The _Odyssey_ hasn't called the Phaeacians inhuman.

But who was Mason to do this to me? Mason didn't know Justin. He didn't know Alex or Max. He was a newcomer. We didn't even know what he was, did we?

I stormed into the Lair. I had to smile, just a bit, to see Juliet has removed her eyes and put them into a bowl of urine. _You don't look so sweet and pretty now, do you_?

"Eww! Gross!" Alex commented as she watched the whole thing. She looked happy though. I had never seen the Lair look so busy. There were chalk drawings all over the floor, strange bubbling potions boiled in improvised cauldrons. Spellbooks lay about, scattered, and some had pages missing. The portal was even blocked with plastic. Justin had spent the whole morning working on Something big. I wasn't exactly sure what the Something was, but it was definitely impressive.

"Okay, I see Professor Crumb walking. He's going into a big building. It looks like wizard high tech. There's writing everywhere and the whole thing is made out of cement. I think it's the wizard power plant. And he's heading down, okay, he's opening a door, and he's leading out a dragon." Juliet reported. Some automatic magic thing was recording her words as she spoke them.

"Why is she putting her eyes in a bowl of urine?" I asked Alex in a whisper.

"It was that or our blood. Or maybe vomit, but Max wouldn't share his stash of it." Alex whispered back to me. "Vampire magic is really gross, isn't it?"

"Yes, she is." I answered. Then I laughed, because it was really awkward to talk to your friend who you suddenly weren't sure if she was human while watching a vampire who had pulled out her own eyes to do some kind of spell to see the future.

"Harper, what's wrong?" Alex asked me. She turned to me and I just rolled with it.

"Mason said you aren't human. He says you're a Phaeacian who bred with demons."

"A Fakeawhat?" Alex asked me.

"That's where we come from. Don't you ever pay attention in wizard lessons?" Justin asked with an annoyed tone of voice. He was hunched over, making some kind of strange marking on the floor.

"Duh, I don't pay attention." Alex rolled her eyes. This coincided with Juliet taking her eyes out of the bowl and starting to rinse them off.

"That's all I could see. The timelines are all messed up and branching around this family. And I think someone was airing an episode of Power Rangers on the precognitive channels." Juliet sighed. "I hope that was a help."

"What exactly are you trying to do here?" I heard Mason's voice coming from the doorway. He still sounded a bit sleepy. Must have been hyperactive werewolf healing or something.

"We're calling up Max's father in law, he's coming here." Justin had the tone of voice he always had when he explained something. Well, he has more than one. This tone was for someone he really didn't like, so he could prove himself superior to them. He had another for impressing a girl, and of course he had one for explaining things to Alex. He had a lot of things just for Alex.

"I see, and why all this clutter then?" Mason asked. He stepped over a chalk line as he entered the Lair.

"That would be because this is our 17th attempt. Max's directions have not been specific enough to do a long distance summon easily." Justin asked. He had that annoyed tone that usually came up when Max was involved. I just loved how he had so many different tones for different situations. I knew them all.

"I see. And why exactly are you summoning Ixion here?" Mason asked. He sounded worried.

"Because we are out of options." It was Jerry's voice now. He entered the room with the Book of Forbidden Spells in his hands. He looked more impressive than I remembered. "And I am not letting them hurt my little girl."

I would have to wait to confront Juliet later.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty Five – Justin

I joined hands with my siblings and did the spell for the 17th time. If Max could have just gotten the coordinates right we could have gotten it done hours ago. I was exhausted, in a very bad mood, and scared. I had spent the last three days being worried.

And Ixion, Son of Ares, appeared before us in a flash of smoke and sulfur.

It was kind of surprising to see that he was the same height as Max. He also had a confused look on his face that reminded me of Max. And there were other similarities. The two had the same dark skin tone, their eyes looked similar. The whole thing was very strange.

"Hello sir. I am Justin Russo. I am pleased to meet you. I'm the brother of Max Russo, your daughter's fiancé." I offered him my hand. He stared at it blankly. There was an awkward silence.

"This is Alex." I offered. "She's my sister." Alex waved. Ixion kept staring. "Um, that is Juliet, my girlfriend. And that is Mason, a werewolf." The silence stretched on. Ixion turned to Max and looked curiously at him.

"Justin, Justin, Justin." Max shook his head. "He only speaks Ancient Greek." _How did I not realize that?_

"Ooh, I can do that." Juliet announced. And she started talking in a foreign language. Ixion nodded and responded. And something in his voice, I could tell that he wasn't really like Max at all. It was not a nice voice. It was used to being respected.

"How do you speak Greek?" Harper asked Max. He opened his mouth, but Juliet interrupted before he could answer.

"He is pleased to meet us. And he has some _compliments_ for me and Alex." Juliet's voice sounded slightly strained at the end. I would need to ask her about it later. "He asked me to do this." And Juliet made a strange tongue click. And Ixion spoke. He didn't actually speak English, but I heard the words anyway. _Juliet, you're awesome._

"What is _that_?" He asked, pointing at Harper.

"She is something that came two races of humanity after your own. A mongrel of a number of survivors and remnants of older races, as well as a lot of diluted crossbreeds." Dad was talking. He sounded strangely formal. He was standing, and his face was strangely imposing.

"I don't recognize anything in this world." Ixion collapsed onto a chair. "Hell was constant. This, I have no idea where I am. I have no idea what has happened since I left. Nothing makes sense anymore."

"Does he remind you of Max?" Alex whispered into my ear. I nodded slightly, mostly in the hope she would stop talking about it if I just silently agreed.

"Why did you summon me?" He asked us. "I gave you an army. I thought it would help. But I owe you everything." He gazed at Max. The look was hungry.

"They have violated the laws of their own leaders. And you are the only being who might be strong enough to help." Juliet explained.

"What laws?" Ixion's eyes crawled over us. I really didn't like how he looked at us, especially Alex.

"They risked exposing their kind to Harper's. For a number of reasons the Wizards Council is in the process of a great experiment involving that species. The affair is complicated beyond belief." I caught the tail end of a look between Juliet and Mason before Mason gave that answer. Something about that bothered me.

"And what is the punishment for that?" Ixion asked us.

"They would have their magic removed. They would be mortals, for all intents and purposes. So would their offspring, and any further descendants. They would be helpless against the misfortunate and cruelty of the world. They would be doomed to sicken and die, to be impoverished and punished as mortals. They would be helpless against human and inhuman predators that stalk this world." And I still wasn't sure why Juliet had Mason answering these questions.

"Well, I cannot let that happen to Max. He freed me from Hell." Ixion sighed. "How can I help?"

"We thought you would wing it." Alex announced. I fumed silently about what I was going to have to say next.

"Alex is right. We don't have a better idea."

Oh, it hurt so much to say that.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty Six – Max

Everything was so exciting! Ixion was here, we were going to face the Wizards Council, Juliet and Mason were back. I had fought an awesome battle with vampires. And did I mention I was engaged? And she was really nice and pretty. Half horse, and that's fun! And Ixion was really grateful. And I was sure my Very Fresh Pizza was going to save the Sub Station from financial ruin.

_LIFE IS GREAT_!

We sat around, preparing for whatever was going to come. Juliet said there was going to be a dragon! I wondered if dragons liked pizza. I had the feeling that they would like Italian food. I needed to make some pizzas for the dragon. But no time! We were all standing around in our meeting in the Lair!

"Okay, here are the layers of defenses. See, we have a bucket of oil to drop on him. Then we can light it on fire." Justin explained. "That should give us time to open the All Encompassing Eye, if it comes to that."

"This is so cool." Alex offered her insight.

"Okay, here goes nothing." Justin announced. He was nervous, really nervous. He stood between Alex and Juliet. I stood next to Alex, with Mason on my other side. Justin said the family needed to be together for this. Alex didn't like it, but Dad agreed. I wondered why Alex didn't have me stand between her and Justin. Oh well, I would never understand what Alex had with Justin. I had some ideas though. I had given up on the idea that they were crime fighters though. That had been my favorite idea.

"Okay, one last thing." Justin waved his wand over the last chalk mark and said a word that Ixion had just taught him. And Kathy appeared.

"Kathy, this is my family. I already met yours." I waved my hand at my family.

"I keep telling you it's not Kathy, it's-" Ixion cut her off with a word of Greek. She nodded to him.

"Max, what am I doing here?" She asked me carefully. Her blond hair fell down her back.

"We're going to stand up to the Wizards Council. And we need your help." Justin told her. Kathy looked frightened.

"Babe, don't worry. We have everything under control. We just threaten to rip a hole in the universe, unleashing all kinds of horrible monsters, and they will leave us alone." I explained to her as I put an arm over her shoulder and led her into our line.

"God, why do I always get stuck with the weird cases?" Kathy looked up to the roof of the Lair.

Dad came into the Lair with Mom. She smiled half heatedly at Kathy. "Hi, I'm Teresa. I heard you were marrying my little _mijo_." She offered Kathy her hand.

"Yes, that would be me. I was kind of surprised, but he's nicer than any of the local boys." Kathy took Mom's hand. "And he makes the best sandwiches I've ever had." She smiled at my Mom.

"Um, we'll talk later." Mom smiled. I was happy to see that she liked my fiancé.

"Okay, we all get into the circle Justin marked on the floor. Get in your places. Kathy, get on the other side of Max." Dad told us. We walked there. We put our hands together. Justin held hands with Juliet, Alex with Mason, me with Kathy, Dad with Mom. Russos by blood each held a hand across the center of the circle. Each of us touched the hand of someone we loved, and who loved us back.

I felt a bit of concern, suddenly.

"Kathy, you do want this, right?" I looked at her.

"Max, I do. This is really weird. This is weirder than I thought possible. But I am cool with it."

Alex was mouthing something to Justin. I ignored it. It was Justin and Alex stuff. I would never get it.

"Oh, so you're cool with it. Well, so am I! I am so cool with my son suddenly marrying a centaur he just met two days ago! I am just fine with watching all of my children become group married by a midget with a cape! I have no problem with any of this!" Mom suddenly exploded. You could never tell what was going to set her off.

"Teresa, it's just for the spell. We can dissolve it after this is all taken care of." Jerry told her in a reassuring voice.

"Why doesn't she want to marry into a powerful family?" Ixion asked Kathy curiously.

"She's a mortal. They've developed some really weird marriage customs while you were in Hell." Kathy explained.

"He's fifteen! And you're half horse!" Mom practically exploded.

"What, I'm thirteen. And there are spells for that." Kathy pointed out. Mom looked nearly ready to break down into tears now.

"Mom, please. I know exactly what I am getting into here. With this Kathy can move out from her parents and she no longer has to work on her parents' ranch. She will work in the Sub Shop once Justin is off in college, so we won't get overwhelmed without him. She will live out in a horse place and come here through the portal for school." I explained it reasonably. For some reason she did not look comforted.

"We'll talk about it later. Can we just please prepare the spell?" Justin practically begged.

Mom relented, and Ixion stood over us. He did a long speech in Ancient Greek I didn't understand, and once he was done he rapped the knot of knuckles of our held hands.

"You are now all Russos, by blood or by marriage" He announced. I looked around. Mom was still fuming. Dad was deep in thought. Mason looked absolutely terrified. So did Alex and Justin. Juliet looked happy, way too happy. Kathy looked kind of bored.

"Russos, by the ichor in my veins descended from my Grandmother, the Queen of Olympus, Hera, you shall rise or fall as one." Ixion announced. "Now, I must go. I cannot be here when your Council arrives. I fear the Pit too much for that." Ixion looked sad. "Call me, once it is all over."

Ixion stood there and started to mutter strange words again, and a door emerged. It was a perfect white sphere in front of us.

"Harper, you need to go with him." Justin announced. I had forgotten about Harper. She had sat back as our own kind debated. She had a glare that could have killed focused on Juliet with a terrible intensity.

"No, Justin! I want to stay. I need to stay. I'm one of you, I need to help!" And Justin shocked me. He took her hand.

"Harper, you are a Russo. But you need to go. We're making our stand here and now. I need you safe."

My stomach squirmed at what Justin was doing. He was striking a low blow at Harper, but it worked. She nodded. "Alright, I'll go with him." And Harper stepped through Ixion's portal.

"Okay." Justin looked at the chalk drawing. "We have the All Encompassing Eye created. All chaos, all directions, the eight pointed star. All possibilities, no progress." Alex cut him off. "We don't need to know that. Big door to another universe, that's all we need to know." Justin looked annoyed, but nodded.

"Okay, now we let them in." And Juliet pried the plastic away from the portal, and the dragon entered the Lair.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty Seven – Max

The thing was small. I actually remembered it from a lesson. Dragons always took small forms when entering houses. The real thing would have been bigger than Waverly Place.

The creature stared at me. This was an old monster. This was a thing from an age when life had just crawled out of the oceans. It was not as smart as a human, but it was close. And the thing was as powerful as a full wizard, and immortal.

Professor Crumb walked in after the dragon. Strange trailing lights moved around him that hurt my eyes.

"I am sorry. You are all under arrest for violation of numerous Wizard Codes." Crumb announced. "What defense do you raise?" Justin than dropped the oil over him. It was the same thing as plastic, or similar enough. It would have left him without magic.

Professor Crumbs was than standing on the other side of the Lair. "Clever, very clever. I'm cleverer."

Alex had cut her hand. The drops of blood fell to activate the all encompassing eye. And they froze in mid air before returning to her hand and crawling back in through her wound.

"An all encompassing eye? I should have guessed. A portal straight to what lies below Hell. Fascinating, I didn't believe it was still in any of the Books of Forbidden Spells." Professor Crumbs looked at Mason and Juliet. The two were frozen in mid air. They had been tasked in distracting Professor Crumbs while Alex cut her hand. It seemed he had something automatic prepared for exactly such an attack. "Mason and Acenith, it has been far too long since we last met. It is such a pity that we met under such unfortunate circumstances." And he turned to me. "A house destroyed, chaos in Phoenix, dozens injured, a disappearing plague of bats. Why did you cause this? I thought more highly of all of you than to unleash woe upon humanity."

"We did it to save lives." I answered him. "The Van Heusens would have killed a lot of people if we didn't kill them first." And the man stared at me.

"_Some are evil, some are kind. But now all must speak their minds._" He announced. He stared at me.

"It's true. Juliet said so."

"Now this is fascinating, Max. Acenith, is this true?" He turned to Juliet.

"Yes, Professor Crumbs. By magic I swear it is true." Juliet announced. "My parents would have slaughtered hundreds of mortals in this city to take the power needed. They would have torn through every barrier, hunting and killing and feeding until they became so bloated with power that nothing could have stopped them from butchering the Russos and Mason Greyback." She looked Professor Crumbs in the eye.

"How very interesting. I was called here to punish reckless behavior that risked our discovery by our great experiment, but it seems that you young Childe Wizards have done nothing but fight your utmost to preserve it." Professor Crumbs nodded wisely. "I would expect nothing less from such fine students as these." He smiled at us knowingly.

"Thank you! And to think I was going to burn you alive!" Justin hugged Crumbs, looking incredibly relieved and excited.

"How disturbing, but also how creative of you." Crumbs nodded. "I see we have many defenses. Is that an All Encompassing Eye you have there? You must have been terrified of losing your magic. I would have never expected you to go so far." Professor Crumbs laid his eyes on Juliet. "But you were stuck in a corner. I have seen worse, and no harm came of it."

Justin looked down, and I was left wondering why I hadn't stepped in when things had gone so far as to fight so dirty and pull out all these stops.

"I see congratulations must be in order. I've known Acenith for my whole life, a wonderful young girl. Amazing what millennia as a child will do to a person." Professor Crumbs nodded to Juliet.

"It's really nice to see you again. Things are changing fast these days. It's nice to see you. How is that great experiment going, anyway?" Juliet looked more comfortable now. We all did.

"Dear girl, just look outside the window sometime and see for yourself." Professor Crumbs smiled at her and kissed her outstretched hand. "Good luck with Justin. It's nice to see you finally growing up."

"Justin, your girlfriend's name starts with ass." Alex laughed at Justin as he glared at her.

"Mason Greyback. I haven't seen you since that unpleasant business in Nanking. It is so nice to see you settling down. I presume you have left your days of cannibalism behind you?" Professor Crumbs asked Mason.

We all stared at Mason in shock.

"I see that I have brought up things you did not know about. I will leave. Goodbye." Professor Crumbs looked very worried. "Oh, and one last thing. You will be expected to clean up the mess you made in Phoenix. Innocent people were caught in that battle, and we repair what we destroy. Otherwise we would be no different from the monsters." He left through the portal. We waited for several seconds with baited breath.

"Is that it? He didn't even ask about the prison?" Alex asked in shock.

"I guess they didn't trace it back to you, somehow." Justin sounded very happy about that.

"What business with a prison?" Dad asked.

"Um, I'll tell you about that later, when everything has calmed down a bit." Justin said reassuringly.

"You didn't tell him what Alex did to bring them back?" I asked with a tint of disbelief in my voice.

"I was going to do it after all of this was over." Justin's voice had a tone of deep annoyance in it.

"Well, it is all over? Why don't you tell us now?" Dad's voice was very firm.

"I need to go get Harper!" I said very quickly.

"I'll come with you!" Alex practically jumped at me.

"Alex, you don't know where Ixion lives." I shook my head. "How would that work?" And I flashed out.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty Eight – Alex

I sat through Justin explaining everything. I sat through Max bringing back Harper. I sat through Ixion's brief incantation in Ancient Greek that undid the celestial marriage. I scrubbed the floor, washing the ill thought out defenses away. I went through the motions of cleaning up the mess we had made of everything.

Tomorrow was Monday. I would be going back to school. I could hardly believe it. After all that had happened, I was going back to school. I was going to have to go to cheerleader practice and hand in a report on Howard Taft. I would have to find out who Howard Taft _was_ before tomorrow morning.

It was nearly dark when everything had been cleaned up. Even with magic we couldn't just wipe away runes like those that easily.

Finally I got Harper alone with me for a moment. I had questions for her.

"Harper, what exactly did Mason say to you when he said we were those Fakeawhatsits? I asked her carefully.

"Phaeacians. And he said that you weren't human." Harper answered me. She had gone from the Battle Diva costume to some distressing shades of black. I think she was still upset about Justin's brief and unnecessary marriage to Juliet.

"Harper, what exactly did he say when he said I wasn't human?" I asked her.

"He said your secrets made you inhuman or something like that. You were descended from all kinds of different beings, gods and demons and that kind of thing."

"So is everyone else!" I snapped as Harper watched. "You're called mortals for a reason, Harper. You aren't immortal. We aren't a different race. My Dad's a mortal, but he started out a wizard. We're all the same race!" I ranted. "How could he say that? How could he say I wasn't human?"

Harper looked at me. I don't think she had ever seen me this mad. And she had seen me through a lot, more than anyone else besides Justin.

"Alex! Calm down. I'm sure he didn't mean it that way. You should just go talk to him."

I shook my head, barely able to talk. "He did mean it that way. You heard what Professor Crumbs said. He _ate_ people! You don't do that if you're human."

"Please, just get him to explain." Harper was a step away from me. She looked very scared. So I moved. I walked passed a window, and looked out for a moment. I saw the sun was setting. I couldn't wait.

"Alex." Mason smiled as I entered Justin's room. He looked happy, too happy. "Full moon tonight. It will be our first-"I cut him off.

"_Some are evil, some are kind. But now all must speak their minds_." I practically spat it at him.

"Did you eat people?" I asked him. I was shaking now.

"Yes. I do eat people." Mason answered. I practically collapsed onto Justin's desk. "What's the problem?" I stared at him.

"I'm a people. I, what's wrong with you? How could you do something like that?" I felt a sick feeling in my stomach. It was just as bad as when my magic had been broken.

"I eat humans, but I save them. I've saved a lot more than I have eaten. I don't kill people _to_ eat them. I just do it when the opportunity presents itself." Mason had a confused look on his face. "What is the problem? Alex, what is it?"

"Did you tell Harper that I wasn't human?" I asked him. My voice was barely under my control. I looked at him, pleading silently that Harper had gotten something wrong.

"Yes, I did. You aren't a human. We aren't of her kind. We live forever and guard the world from those who would destroy it. Alex, you have to know this. Is this some kind of joke? You can't actually think that you're the same species as Harper." He was smiling at me, trying to get me to lighten up.

"I am human. I just have magic. And if I lose the Wizard Competition I won't even have that." I looked around Justin's familiar room. And I was glad we were having this confrontation here. This was my ground, my home. In Justin's room I have Justin's strength. And his strength was the strength I needed.

"Alex, you ignore their rules all the time. You're a rule breaker, a trickster. If you think you're one of them, how can you treat them like that?" Mason asked me. "That's what I liked about you. When I first met you, you were different from all of them. Your eyes were on the future, on art. You played games with them, and with me. I thought you were a fairy at first, or maybe a cambion." He moved his hand towards me a little. "But a witch is better."

I sat there stunned. I had done a lot, in my life. I had done a lot of bad, and some good. And most of what I did depended on your point of view. Was I having harmless fun or risking everything, lightening up the grim world of school or shattering learning for the sake of amusement?

"No!" I shouted. I felt power raging inside of me. I felt so _mad_ at Mason. "I am human! I've done things I shouldn't have, but I did them because I'm a human. I've been petty, and mean and short sighted. But that's all part of being human. I was never _above_ them." I stood there, shuddering at what I needed to do.

"Mason? Why don't you think we're human?" I asked him very quietly.

"Because they die. I have seen things, Alex. I have seen armies butchered and cities burned. I have seen things I can't even describe to you, sweet little girl. But they pass in time. We don't. We last forever. Even death doesn't stop us, like you proved. We can come back and start all over. And that's a good thing, even for them. We keep the experiment rolling until it ends and it all matters."

As Mason talked the sun set. He transformed into something animal. The face of a man I loved, a man I didn't know.

"I love you." I whispered. "But I never knew you. Get out!"

"Then why did you bring me back? If you didn't know me, if you are just throwing me away, why did you kill for me? Don't I matter?" Mason sounded just as sad as I felt, but I kept it under control, and lied. I had given him up before.

"Because I was so stupid I put myself under a spell without thinking about it. I. Said. Go."

And he looked at me with a broken expression. "I'll be back when you calm down." But I wouldn't calm down, at least I didn't think I would. I hoped I wouldn't.

And he did. Mason left, and I stumbled into my room and collapsed onto my bed. When I was alone, I cried. Because it had all been for nothing.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty Nine – Alex

But it wasn't all for nothing. I sat there and muttered a spell. And I listened to the buzz of the house.

First I listened to Justin. And I smiled as he defended me. His voice was full of passion, and I knew I was safe from my parents, this time. Justin wouldn't let anything happen to me, not for saving Juliet.

And my thoughts turned to her. She was sitting with Harper in our basement. She sounded slightly annoyed.

"Okay, run over the whole time travel thing one more time." Harper asked her.

"The package, it was from another timeline. Time travel changed the timeline, causing the situation to change. TJ wasn't part of the events this time around, we don't know why. Whichever Russo won the Wizard Competition in that timeline sent the package back with the fantasy author H.J. Darling. She was the one who prepared the package and sent it to us." Juliet sounded like this was not the first time she had explained it.

"But we would have died, how did it get sent back if it didn't get sent back in the initial timeline?" Harper asked. I had to wonder how she understood all of this. Sometimes I forget that she is almost as much of a dork as Justin.

"The timeline that sent us the package was not the first draft. It would have been created by another set of timeline alterations from a previous timeline. All timelines are created like that. People time traveling in this timeline is creating the next one down the road. That timeline will create another, and eventually the chain will loop around, creating our own timeline."

"How is that possible? How could that have been set up?" Harper asked Juliet.

"Magic, originally there was a single timeline without time travel. But that was unstable. Something that existed _long_ before Earth even existed created our current set up." Juliet's voice changed slightly with that statement.

"This didn't go at all how I expected it to go. I had it all planned out. We were going to fight, and you were going to leave forever." Harper laughed. "I still don't like you very much."

"And I don't like you either, but I think I can keep you around." Juliet laughed.

"But really, why do you like Justin? It can't really be because you want a boyfriend who you are cooler than?" Harper asked seriously.

"No, it's because I'm finally FREE!" And Juliet's voice was high and filled with joy I had never heard there before. "I spent two thousand years as a child. I couldn't grow up. I would either be a monster, or my family would kill me. I couldn't die, and I couldn't kill. So I waited, and watched, and never let my fangs grow in. I was a freak, but it was the only way. For two thousand years I led my family to their death or redemption. I kept myself young. Not just physically, either. My mind stayed young and innocent. And I conspired with werewolves, gave weapons or information to heroes as they passed. I never let any of them love me, and the Monster Hunters Council destroyed my family. The great experiment began. But I could never fight my parents. Until now, until I found Justin. He's a wizard, and a monster hunter. The whole family, together with Mason, were finally enough to kill my dreadful parents. My responsibilities to my old family are gone, Harper. And I can finally start my own."

Harper kept silent through the speech. Finally, she asked Juliet something. "Do you love him? Really love him?"

"Yes, I really do. I stood with him because we loved each other. I want to finally grow up at the same time he does."

"Then you, you can have him. I can't fight that." Harper whispered.

And I smiled. Maybe, just maybe, it was worth it after all.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty – Justin

I finally calmed my parents down, at least enough for them to focus on Max's engagement. Now there was one last thing I had to do.

I walked down the hallway, into Alex's room. I knocked first, and she made a grunting noise. That was all I ever got from her, so I entered.

She was lying on her bed, face down. I sat down next to her.

"Alex, we need to talk." She grunted back. "Alex, this is important." I gulped. "I won't stop you from being with Mason." I heard nothing, so I kept going. "I don't like him. I don't like him at all. He's way too old for you and a werewolf and really whiny and he doesn't like me, but I'm not going to stop you from dating him."

She rolled over and glared at me. Her eyes were vicious. She must have been really annoyed with my calling out her boyfriend's negative qualities, but I had to go on.

"You would just date him anyway, behind my back. And I owe you one. I owe you so much. You brought back Juliet. You're stronger than I am, Alex. I didn't have the guts to do that. You risked everything to save her, so I'm not going to stop you from getting what you want."

"I wasn't. I did it under a Damned spell." She told me. I knew something was wrong, but I wasn't sure what.

"Alex, you could have done anything. You could have _been_ anything, under that spell. You just had to do something, and it could have been anything. And you made a hard choice to save good people from bad ends. You could have been a monster, but you weren't. I wouldn't have been so selfless, not with those words on my arm." And I was completely truthful.

"You can't do anything bad. You're Justin." Alex answered, and buried her face back into her pillow. I looked at my little sister, my little devil.

"Alex, you don't know that. I do. I know what I would have done, and it wouldn't have been good. Without feeling bad, I would have done something I would have regretted for the rest of my life." I patted her back, hoping she would feel better soon.

"I left him. I kicked him out. He, I didn't know him. It didn't matter. You get your happy ending. You get Juliet. And I'm left with nothing, I killed for nothing." She didn't rise. I kept my hand on her back.

"You still have me." I said the first thing that came to mind after that revelation.

"What?" She looked at me, taking her head away from the pillow.

"I'll take care of you, even if Mason's gone. That's what I do. I've been doing that since Mom brought you home."

Alex smiled. "Thank you." And she had her grin on her face now. "But I just realized, you owe me for bringing back your girlfriend. You owe me big time." _Unless she gets back together with Mason_.

I swallowed. I could have mentioned all the times she had owed me, and said we were even. But I couldn't do that. She was happy, and I couldn't let her be like she was after the last time she broke up with Mason.

"What do you want?" I asked her.

That grin, the grin of a devil was still on her face. "I'll think of something."

**Author's Note:**

Thank you all for reading and reviewing. I hope you enjoyed this, my first fanfic. Feel free to give any questions or comments you have, and I will answer them over PM. There is one that I didn't answer on purpose, as I plan to explore it elsewhere. Also I believe it fits better to leave some things open, and not have everything wrapped up so tightly.

As always, thanks to Not Just a Nerd for her tireless beta reading of Once There Was a Maiden. The true blue Jalex shipper enabled an Alex/Mason fic. And for that she has my gratitude. And other feelings that are confusing and scary.


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